This year’s vegetation loss in Brazil due to the devastating Amazon rainforest fire has put the country into limelight worldwide. In spite of this destruction, The US administration is pushing to worsen Brazil’s condition by threatening Brazilian residents to displace from the Atlantic Coast as an effort to support the expansion of the Alcântara Space Launch Center.
Trump and Bolsonaro administrations have signed the “Technology Safeguards Agreement” that would inflict communities of hundreds of Afro-Brazilian anglers and farmers (quilombolas) to vacant their ancestral lands within the periphery of Atlantic Coast. The contract will not come into effect unless both the panels of the Brazilian congress approve the agreement. Several Brazilian representatives and officials contradict the agreement sanction, while some have even knocked the doors of the constitutional court in Brazil.
Regrettably, quilombolas are not facing this situation for the first time. Earlier also, the communities had to sacrifice their territories and sustenance for the launch center.
On a related note, Rocket Lab—a private aerospace manufacturing and smallsat launching company—has announced that its globally second and USA’s first launch site (Launch Complex 2) is almost established. The space company specified that its new site would be used in conducting missions from early 2020 with the launch of a partially reusable Electron vehicle.
In August, Rocket Lab disclosed that it had erected Launch Complex 2 at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport in Virginia, which would be committed to launching Electron space vehicles. After setting up the launch platform at the desired position, the crew has been outfitting the accessories for the site, such as wiring and plumbing. CEO of Rocket Lab, Peter Beck, told that the company’s new launchpad would be all set to conduct certified launches within this year, but official launches will begin from the next year.
Apart from the launchpad, the widespread LC 2 has enough spare area to accommodate four rockets simultaneously. Moreover, separate places are dedicated to set up a payload site and offices within the complex.
