Venezuela's space escort
By Samuel Logan for ISN
Venezuela became Latin America's fourth nation with satellite communications capability on 30 October when China's Great Wall Industry Corporation (GWIC) launched Venesat-1 into orbit. Based on China's DFH-4 communications satellite platform, Venesat-1 - dubbed Simon Bolivar - is a geostationary unit and will maintain continuous and expansive coverage over many Latin American nations. And it is the first of perhaps a number of satellites China will help launch for Latin American countries.
The Venezuelan government invested over US$400 million in the development of Venesat-1, which began with a November 2005 agreement with the Chinese government's GWIC.
Uruguay was also part of the deal. In exchange for 10 percent of the satellite's communications capability, Uruguay agreed to allow Venezuela to use its orbit slot, located at 78 degrees west. The satellite's geostatic position allows for north-south coverage from southern Mexico to Chile and Argentina, and east-west coverage from Brasilia, Brazil, to well past Lima, Peru, in the Pacific Ocean.
Most Caribbean nations, all of Central America and all Andean nations fall within the coverage area of Venesat-1. Telesur, the pan-regional news and information station, will be one of the first to employ the satellite's broadcast capabilities that include some 24 television stations and 25 radio frequencies, according to Spanish newswire EFE.
Other international communications plans on deck are to connect with regional members of the Bank of the South and Chavez's alternative trade platform ALBA through Venesat-1. The Venezuelan president has also mentioned he would use the satellite to share information between members of MercoSur once Venezuela becomes a member.
Within Venezuela, Chavez plans to use the satellite for telephone service, to be administered by the Venezuelan Science and Technology Ministry and operated by state-owned CANTV, as soon as 20 December. Other plans to bring educational and medicinal services to isolated Venezuelan communities are underway.
A number of indigenous tribes in Venezuela's Orinoco river basin are only accessible by boat with little to no contact with the rest of the world. The Warao Indians, an 11,000-member tribe, will be part of a pilot program to use "tele-medicine" and "tele-education" services. This pilot program is expected to extend to a number of other tribes.
A second telemedicine project will allow rural Venezuelan residents to consult with some of the best doctors in the country.
The Venezuelan government has announced that during the course of 2009, it will distribute some three thousand antennas to schools, community councils and other public entities to capture signals beamed from Venesat-1.
There remains some doubt, however, over how many of these antennas will actually be distributed. And during the construction of one of the satellite control centers, a shortage of sand and concrete presented delays, underlining the Venezuelan government's disorganized procurement process.
The control stations were installed at military bases located in El Sombrero, Guarico state, and Luepa, Bolivar state and are manned by a small force of Venezuelan technicians who learned how to operate the equipment in China.
Technology transfer is a sensitive issue. The US tried to prevent China from passing technology to Venezuela, but the Chinese refused to abandon the Venesat-1 project, the first satellite China has constructed, tested and launched for a Latin American country according to the Xinhua Chinese news agency.
Past Sino-Brazilian satellite projects have been cooperative in nature, a two-way input of money and technology. The Venesat-1 project was a simple exchange of cash for products, services and technology. It was another example of the Chinese "win-win" approach to deal making in Latin America.
And with Venezuela's announcement to launch a second satellite in 2013 for domestic use only, China stands to deepen ties with its South American partner. This launch also marks a milestone in China's participation in the international space market. China launched a similar satellite for Nigeria and signed an agreement in October to launch a communications satellite for Pakistan.
On 5 November, China made public the country's first policy paper for Latin America. The five-point manifesto outlined every possible way China will engage Latin American countries, and with the recent Venesat-1 announcement, it remains clear that Venezuela is at the top of China's list of space technology transfers.