ARSAT-1 (photo courtesy of Ministerio de Planificación)
Argentina’s first geostationary satellite ARSAT-1 will be launched at 6pm today from a base in French Guiana.
From orbit, the satellite will offer communication services to Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, and Paraguay, saving Argentina millions of dollars as the government will no longer have to rent expensive satellites from other countries.
Planning Minister, Julio de Vido, called today’s launch was “historic” and said that it highlighted the potential Argentina had in technology. He added that it would generate many jobs, and that next year the country planned on launching a second satellite for Latin America-wide communication.
ARSAT-1 – the first of three satellites – is the first satellite be designed, assembled, and tested in Latin America. ARSAT-2 and ARSAT-3 will also be developed Bariloche, in the Patagonian province of Río Negro. President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner called them an example of “satellite sovereignty”.
Argentina is the first Latin American country to launch its own satellite, and joins a select group of eight countries that have developed such technology, including the US, Russia, China, Japan, India, Israel, and the EU.
The public will be able to watch the launch live on television as part of a presidential address today at 6pm.
The post ARSAT-1 Satellite to be Launched Today appeared first on The Argentina Independent.