UNAM and IPN want to build a small satellite for Mexico

The National Autonomous University of Mexico ( UNAM ), the National Polytechnic Institute ( IPN ), and the Mexican Space Agency (AEM) have revealed they will announce the bases to build and launch a small satellite and thus keep Mexico from spending USD$4 billion every year in purchasing satellite images and services.

The construction of the device – which would be built in Mexico – would be done under the consulting of NASA's Ames Research Center, which would be involved in lab tests and its final launch into space, according to the coordinator of the University Space Program, José Francisco Valdés.

According to information posted by the UNAM Digital Gazette, scientists have presented several research projects on the subject.

The coordinator added the satellite would take images of the national territory, useful for agriculture and the study of jungles, woods, urban growth, among other social, economic, and environmental implementations.

Valdés claims experts also want to decrease the enormous costs for the sector that represents the purchase of satellite images and services "because it's not favorable for us, we have no technological transfer, no people training, and we're only users of technologies made in other countries,”

“We can make some small ones, of 10x10x10 or 30x10x10, which don't cost much. They're called CubeSats. We're designing them in Mexico, both at the UNAM and the IPN, but we need funds to finish building them, to test them, and to launch them,” he added.

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