The Alcântara Space Center ( pt, Centro Espacial de Alcântara, CEA), former known as ''Alcântara Launch Center'' ( pt, Centro de Lançamento de Alcântara,) is a

space center Below is a list of space facilities by country. Algeria * Algerian Space Agency Brazil * Alcântara Space Center * Barreira do Inferno Launch Center * Space Operations Center Belgium * Liege Space Center * Euro Space Center Canada * Jo ...

and launching facility of the

Brazilian Space Agency The Brazilian Space Agency ( pt, Agência Espacial Brasileira; AEB) is the civilian authority in Brazil responsible for the country's Space exploration, space program. It operates a spaceport at Centro de Lançamento de Alcântara, Alcântara, an ...

in the city of Alcântara, located on

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

's northern Atlantic coast, in the state of

Maranhão Maranhão () is a state in Brazil. Located in the country's Northeast Region, it has a population of about 7 million and an area of . Clockwise from north, it borders on the Atlantic Ocean for 2,243 km and the states of Piauí, Tocantins and ...

.Brazil, Ukraine to launch rocket together in 2010

UNIAN The UNIAN or Ukrainian Independent Information Agency of News ( uk, Українське Незалежне Інформаційне Агентство Новин, УНІАН, translit=Ukrayins'ke Nezalezhne Informatsiyne Ahentstvo Novyn) is a ...

(December 3, 2009) It is operated by the

Brazilian Air Force "Wings that protect the country" , colours = , colours_label = , march = Hino dos Aviadores , mascot = , anniversaries = 22 May (anniver ...

(). The CEA is the closest launching base to the

equator The equator is a circle of latitude, about in circumference, that divides Earth into the Northern and Southern hemispheres. It is an imaginary line located at 0 degrees latitude, halfway between the North and South poles. The term can als ...

. This gives the launch site a significant advantage in launching

geosynchronous satellite A geosynchronous satellite is a satellite in geosynchronous orbit, with an orbital period the same as the Earth's rotation period. Such a satellite returns to the same position in the sky after each sidereal day, and over the course of a day tr ...

s, an attribute shared by the

Guiana Space Centre The Guiana Space Centre (french: links=no, Centre spatial guyanais; CSG), also called Europe's Spaceport, is a European spaceport to the northwest of Kourou in French Guiana, a region of France in South America. Kourou is located approximatel ...

. Construction of the base began in 1982. The first launch occurred on February 21, 1990, when the

sounding rocket A sounding rocket or rocketsonde, sometimes called a research rocket or a suborbital rocket, is an instrument-carrying rocket designed to take measurements and perform scientific experiments during its sub-orbital flight. The rockets are used to ...

Sonda 2 Sonda is a family of Brazilian-built sounding rockets which serves as an R&D path to the VLS ( pt, Veículo Lançador de Satélites) orbital rocket. Launches started in 1965 and continue to this day. Launch sites include Wallops Island, Andoya ...

XV-53 was launched. On August 22, 2003, the explosion of the third VLS-1 (XV-03) killed 21 people. There are also plans to launch several international rockets from Alcântara. In 2003 contracts were signed to launch Ukrainian

Tsyklon-4 The Tsyklon-4, also known as Tsiklon-4 and Cyclone-4, was a Ukrainian carrier rocket which was being developed for commercial satellite launches. Derived from the Tsyklon-3, it had a new third stage, a larger payload fairing, and a modernised flig ...

and Israeli

Shavit Shavit ( he, שביט, link=no, meaning ''comet'') may refer to: People Surname * Ari Shavit (born 1957), Israeli reporter and writer * Bradley Shavit Artson (born 1959), American rabbi * Dorit Shavit (born 1949), Israeli ambassador * Edna Shavit ...

"Launchers" by Tim Furniss, 26 August 2003, ''Flight International'' rockets; In addition there are further plans to launch the Russian

Proton rocket Proton (Russian: Протон) (formal designation: UR-500) is an expendable launch system used for both commercial and Russian government space launches. The first Proton rocket was launched in 1965. Modern versions of the launch system are sti ...

.Interfax: Russia & CIS Defense Industry Weekly, 21 May 2010 In the beginning of 2018, Brazilian government offered the possibility to use the spaceport to several U.S. companies. The company

Virgin Orbit Virgin Orbit is a company within the Virgin Group which provides launch services for small satellites. On January 17, 2021, their ''LauncherOne'' rocket successfully reached orbit for the first time, and successfully deployed 10 cubesats. The ...

, was selected to fly their

LauncherOne LauncherOne is a two-stage orbital launch vehicle developed and flown by Virgin Orbit that began operational flights in 2021, after being in development from 2007 to 2020. It is an air-launched rocket, designed to carry smallsat payloads of u ...

rocket from Alcântara in the first half of 2023.

Public-private partnership

Companies based in Alcântara as of 2021, with the objective of orbital and sub-orbital launches, for commercial purposes or in partnership with the Brazilian government: * C6 Launch * Hyperion Rocket Systems * OrionAST *

* Innospace As of August 2021, the Brazilian government established Ordinance No. 698, a regulation that follows the FAA 14 CFR part 450 standard, which deals with launch and re-entry licenses in order to follow the world standard in space activities.

Agreement between Brazil and the U.S.

In 2019, Brazil and the U.S. signed an agreement, with the objective of preventing unauthorized access or transfer of U.S. technologies related to the launches from Alcântara.

Structures

* Engine preparation facilities (Preparação de Propulsores - PPP) * Payload preparation facilities (Preparação de Carga Útil - PPCU) * Liquid-fuel loading facilities (Preparação de Carregamento de Propelentes - PCPL) * Universal launch tower * Mobile Integration Tower (TMI - Torre Móvel de Integração): 33x10x13m, 380tons. Used for assembly of the VLS rockets. * Control center (Prédio de Controle Avançado - CASAMATA). * 2600m runway

List of launchpads

The Alcântara launch pads include: * VLS Pad (with Mobile Integration Tower - TMI) * MRL Pad (general sounding rocket pad) * "Universal" pad for rockets up to 10 tons

Launch list

The list of flights conducted and planned from Alcântara:

Alcântara Space Center (from 2021)

Alcântara Launch Center (1982-2022)