BRAZILIAN MEDIA REACTION TO U.S. SPACE POLICY

UNCLAS BRASILIA 002272 SIPDIS SIPDIS PLEASE PASS TO OES/SAT RBRAIBANTI, KHODGKINS, RCLORE, RFORD; OES/STC RDRISCOLL; OES/L MSTEWART, MSIMONOFF E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: TSPA TSPL ECPS KSCA BR SUBJECT: BRAZILIAN MEDIA REACTION TO U.S. SPACE POLICY ¶1. The following are excerpts from two recent media articles. Neither indicate that the Brazilians are contemplating a closer relationship with the United States in issues relating to space. "The Masters of Space", Correio Brasiliense, October 22, 2006 The United States made public its first space policy reform in ten years this month...The changes not only limit space access to the nations that are allies to the North American government, but also sets guidelines so that no international treaty imposes any limits on Washington's actions on the sector.... The details of the new policy...are still confidential, but the document points out the growing importance to the U.S. of maintaining its dominance in space...its armies depend more and more on navigation and communication systems by satellite, cell phones, service companies such as GPS and even technology for data transmission.... The ... United States has been losing its influence (in space exploration)... since 2003, when the Columbia accident ...delayed NASA's work. Russia took over the top position for space transportation. For example, the Brazilian astronaut Marcos Cesar Pontes, trained for eight years in the American Agency, but went to space on a Russian rocket.... The document ...practically confirms that the country will ... develop and put weapons in space,...and rekindle ...hostility in the aerospace sector, interrupting a cooperation phase that built the International Space Station, but could lead back to the Cold War. ¶2. A second article indicated that AEB, the Brazilian Space Agency, wants Brazil to partner in Europe's Galileo program and that official negotiations are scheduled soon to begin. The article indicated that the final decision would be made by the new Brazilian president "Country initiates official negotiations to participate in the Galileo positioning system", Folha de Sao Paulo, October 19, 2006 Raimundo Mussi, manager of the Galileo Program in Brazil and the Technical Scientific Coordinator of the Brazilian Space Agency (AEB) said that Brazil "has three main objectives,...one is linked to the program's universe of applications, another to scientific development and the third to industrial issues. We are talking of using data from Galileo for everything from our transport systems up to putting Brazilian industries on an international circuit." he said. INPE Director Gilberto Camara is quoted as saying "the participation of Brazil in Galileo is extremely important. I see this as extremely positive...It is always important, in terms of strategy, to have access to a system that could function, in the future, as a type of alternative to GPS, which was originally created by the North Americans for military uses." In the first phase, Brazil will not have any costs for participating in Galileo. SOBEL