Because of the high annual maintenance costs of the Alcantara Launch Center, the Brazilian government officially opened the center to foreigners in March 1999 in order to explore sources of funding. As a result, in addition to Brazil's own space experimentation program, the center also undertakes satellite launches for foreign countries.
From the contracts that the center has signed with foreign companies, the former provide the latter with launch bases, utilities, camps for technicians, transportation equipment, sanitary facilities, and a package of services that includes meteorological exploration, radar tracking, and safe navigation. On June 1 of this year, the director of the Brazilian Space Agency, Bevilacca Lewis, in an interview with the Brazilian newspaper Globo, argued that the launch technology of the Alcantara Launch Center is in a leading position even in the international arena.
Bevilacca did not hide her "ambition" for Brazil to enter the international aeronautics market: "We are going to carry out a satellite launch experiment this year, probably in August, and I hope that this time it will be a success (the first two launches ended in failure). If this launch is successful, it will prove that Brazil is well qualified to get a slice of the international market for satellite launches."
It's no wonder that Bevilacca is taking the launch so seriously, given that on Nov. 2, 1997, and Dec. 11, 1999, Brazil launched two of its own VLS "satellite launch vehicles" that failed. If this launch is successful, Brazil will become the first Latin American country to launch a satellite on a self-built rocket.
Currently, the Alcantara Launch Center is being expanded for the launching of VSL orbital mission rockets, but unfortunately, there has not been a single successful launch of a VSL rocket yet; on August 22, 2003, 21 Brazilian technicians and engineers were killed in the third explosion of the VSL-1 (Vo3) rocket***, and the launch pad was destroyed in the accident.
The Alcantara launch center also undertakes a number of other satellite launches internationally, and at the 2011 Boao Forum for Asia, Brazilian President Lula and visiting Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma signed a long-term space cooperation agreement on April 21st. In an interview with journalists following his meeting with the Brazilian President, the Ukrainian Prime Minister announced that the two countries would continue their cooperation in the space sector by building a large international space launch center by 2014. The space center will be an expansion of Brazil's existing Alcantara Space Center, which is located on the Atlantic coast of northern Brazil at 2°S latitude, making it the world's closest space launch center to the equator (not counting Sea Launch). Brazil has so far launched a series of sounding rockets from this center and test-fired the VLS launch vehicle (various failures). The two countries plan to launch Ukraine's Cyclone-4 (also spelled Tsyklon-4) launch vehicle from this center in the future, competing for the international commercial launch market and taking on launches from Israel's Shavit (2003 news) and Russia's Proton (2010 news).
The first launch of Cyclone-4 is expected in 2012. Under the agreement, the two sides will cooperate in launching satellites using Ukrainian Cyclone-4 rockets from Brazil's Alcantara launch center, as well as providing commercial satellite launch services to other customers. Brazilian Defense Minister Viegas said that Ukraine has the cutting-edge technology of launch vehicles but does not have a good launch site, while Brazil has a well-located launch site but does not have a launch vehicle. Therefore, this cooperation agreement is very important for both sides to develop their respective space programs. Viegas said that the cooperation between the two sides will help make Alcantara an international space launch center and create conditions for exchanges between the two countries in launch vehicle technology, accelerating the development of Brazil's next V1S launch vehicle. It is reported that the two countries will invest $80 million each over the next three years to build the necessary infrastructure at the Alcantara launch center.