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Venezuela enters space age with Chinese help

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, second right at rear, Bolivian President Evo Morales, center at rear, and Bolivian Foreign Affairs Minister Nicolas Maduro, fourth right at rear, watch the launch from China’s Sichuan Province of the first Venezuelan satellite at the satellite center station in El Sombrero, Venezuela, on Wednesday. PHOTO: AFP

Venezuela entered the space age on Wednesday as its first satellite, built with Chinese technology and launched from China, blasted into orbit.

Named after Simon Bolivar, the hero of South American independence, the communications satellite Venesat-1 is a “construction of socialism” and a symbol of Latin American integration, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said.

Chavez, accompanied by fellow leftist Bolivian President Evo Morales, monitored the launch from the eastern town of Luepa, and afterwards praised the operation as an example of socialist virtues.

“A capitalist business launches a satellite to make money. This is an act of freedom and independence,” Chavez said.

“This satellite is not for us but for the people of Latin America and the Caribbean. It is a further step towards independence,” he said.

Chavez said that the project would break the mold of “technological illiteracy.”

During its 15-year lifespan the Simon Bolivar satellite will cover Venezuela’s “brother countries” to streamline telecommunications and develop “social programs such as literacy or telemedicine,” Science and Technology Minister Nuris Orihuela said.

The satellite, the construction of which began in 2002, cost Venezuela US$241 million, along with US$165 million for two communication headquarters.

The Simon Bolivar will orbit the Earth at 36,000km.

The signal from the 5.1-tonne satellite, which will be fully operational by January next year, will extend from southern Mexico to southern Argentina and Chile.

Chavez rejected calls from Washington for China to suspend the launch, and described the move as part of Washington’s “obsession to conquer the world.”

“The Chinese government’s response was that there was no reason to suspend the launch,” Chavez said.

Morales congratulated his counterpart after the launch, saying: “I think this telecommunications satellite is a human right for the nations of South America and the Caribbean, and should not be a private enterprise,” he said.

The satellite’s manufacturing, launching and placing into orbit by China as part of an agreement on technological cooperation further strengthens relationships between the two strategic partners, the Venezuelan government said.

Venezuela intends to launch its second satellite, for its own use, in 2013, said the technical manager of the Bolivarian Agency for Space Activities, Rodolfo Navarro.


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