The delegation’s visit to the COPE facilities, in Brasília (DF), was held on Thursday (10/08)
Air Force Agency, by Lieutenant Flávia Rocha
National defense and the future of Brazil’s space activity. These were some of the topics discussed during the visit of Defense Minister José Mucio Monteiro Filho and Communications Minister José Juscelino dos Santos Rezende Filho to the Brazilian Air Force (FAB) Space Operations Center (COPE) in Brasília, Brazil, on Thursday (Aug. 10).
The authorities were received by the Commander of Aerospace Operations (COMAE), Air Lieutenant Brigadier Hudson Costa Potiguara, and by the President of Telebras, Frederico de Siqueira Filho. During the visit, the delegation got to know the COPE facilities up close and also attended presentations by the Commander of Aerospace Operations and the President of Telebras.
According to Lieutenant Brigadier Potiguara, the visit was very timely to show the ministers the relevance of space activity for the country. “We are at full capacity in the sector. Our start was the Geostationary Defense and Strategic Communications Satellite [SGDC], which has shown Brazil the importance of having a satellite. After that, we had the launch of the two satellites of the Lessonia Project, Carcará I and Carcará II. And we showed here, to the delegation, the need for our next step, which will be Carponis, our optical satellite “, he explained.
In his presentation, the President of Telebras stated that the Geostationary Satellite for Defense and Strategic Communications, in activity since 2017, has changed the reality of millions of Brazilians, demonstrating the success of investment in digital inclusion and national defense. “Digital inclusion prioritized secure connectivity in more than 20,000 public schools in the country, border posts, indigenous communities, quilombolas and rural settlements,” he added.
On the occasion, Lieutenant Brigadier Potiguara also spoke about the structure and evolution of space operations, noting that COPE was the first permanently activated Joint Command in the country. In addition, another issue reinforced during the visit was interoperability. “The three Armed Forces have worked together in several operations and exercises, such as Operations Ágata, Amazônia II, Yanomami, Repatriation and Reception, among other humanitarian aid,” the General emphasized.
COPE
COPE was inaugurated in 2020, in partnership with the state-owned company Telecomunicações Brasileiras S.A (Telebras), to serve as a control center for the Geostationary Defense and Strategic Communications Satellite (SGDC) and with the possibility of controlling several geostationary and low-orbit satellites. The COPE facilities were designed with a high level of security and network availability, becoming a reference for complexity and modernity.
Providing services with civil and military application and acting with full reliability, COPE has the capacity for continuous operation in the most diverse scenarios. In May 2022, the Space Operations Center launched the first satellites of Project Lessonia – 1. The two Remote Sensing Radar (SRR) satellites, called Carcará I and Carcará II, were launched by means of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket, at the Kennedy Space Center, in Cape Canaveral, in the United States (USA).
Photos: Sergeant Viegas/CECOMSAER