| Owner |  Ecuador |
|---|---|
| Established | November 1, 2007 |
| Headquarters | Guayaquil |
| Motto | Ex Sominus Ad Astra [1] |
| Administrator | Hector Carrion |
| Website | www.exa.ec |
The Ecuadorian Civilian Space Agency (EXA) (Spanish: Agencia Espacial Civil Ecuatoriana) is the organization in charge of administering and executing the Ecuadorian civilian space program and conducting scientific research on space and planetary sciences. It is a mixed capital non-profit organization, 50% civilian and 50% Ecuadorian government through the Ecuadorian Air Force. It was established on November 1, 2007 and includes the first Ecuadorian trained astronaut, Ronnie Nader, among its staff members.
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History
EXA was established on November 1, 2007 as an independent civilian organization in charge of administering and executing the Ecuadorian civilian space program and to conduct scientific research on space and planetary sciences and encourage the development of sciences in the Ecuadorian education system.
EXA had its first achievement with Project DAEDALUS, on May 6, 2008, during the EXA/FAE-02 mission when they successfully tested a modified Sabreliner T-39 of the Ecuadorian Air Force flown by FAE pilots and adapted with a device created by EXA to generate microgravity by sustaining cybernetically assisted parabolic flight, becoming the first country in Latin America in developing this kind of technology by their own means.
On June 19, 2008, EXA flew in microgravity the youngest human being in history, Jules Nader, seven years old, establishing the Guinness world record for this newly created scientific category.
EXA jointly operates with the Ecuadorian Air Force the Ecuadorian Micro Gravity Flight Program. Space Adventures is a provider for EXA, providing services to retrofit another micro gravity plane, a FAE Boeing 727-100.
As of September 29 2008, EXA is a member of the International Astronautical Federation. EXA built and operates the National UV Radiation Monitor that protects more than four million people by providing them real-time information about UV levels reaching Ecuadorian territory.
On September 8 2009, EXA announced that had built and successfully tested the first Internet-to-Orbit voice/data gateway, the HERMES-A/MINOTAUR system, which was demonstrated at the UNOOSA Symposium on Small Satellites for Sustainable Development held in the Austrian Academy of Sciences in city of Graz, Austria, were participants from 31 different countries were able to operate satellites remotely from this location using the system, which is located in Guayaquil, Ecuador. The HERMES-A/MINOTAUR system is under the responsibility of the Space Operations Division of EXA.
Structure
The agency is organized with the following divisions
- Administration
- Space Operations
- Mission Control and Planning
- Astronaut Corps
- Engineering
- Sciences
- Planetary sciences
- Space sciences
- Information sciences
- International Relationships
- Corporate relationships
- Academic relationships
| Ronnie Antoine Nader Bello | |
|---|---|
| EXA Astronaut | |
| Born | July 10, 1967 Guayaquil, Ecuador |
| Other occupation | Space Operations Director at EXA |
| Selection | June 8 2007 |
| Missions | None |
The Ecuadorian Civilian Space Program
The Ecuadorian Civilian Space Program has three phases, Suborbital, Orbital and Lunar, in the first Suborbital phase, three manned missions are planned, the orbital phase has at least two manned missions and three unmanned missions and the Lunar phase is composed of four unmanned and one manned mission.
ESAA-01, the first suborbital mission is set for year 2009, it will be manned by Ronnie Nader and will carry two scientific experiments designed to study the radiation environment on the suborbital space zone. It is not clear from where the mission will take off, however some EXA executives have stated that, depending on some key factors, it is possible that the mission will launch from some point in the Ecuadorian coastal region.
This first phase employs a novel and ingenious scheme for low cost scientific access to space, renting the exclusive use of suborbital commercial space ships to develop this scientific missions, in order to be able to offer free or nearly no cost access to scientific research opportunities in space for Ecuadorian academic institutions. Other space agencies like NASA, have similar schemes for suborbital space scientific research like its Scientist Participant Suborbital Research Program this is due the convenience and low cost of renting commercial suborbital ships instead of developing and maintaining their own.
All the manned and unmanned missions for the Ecuadorian space program involve scientific experiments developed in the country; the objective, EXA has said, is the "Encourage the scientific and technological development of the country and to inspire the next generations of Ecuadorian scientists, engineers and explorers, actually, the experiments for the ESAA-01 mission have been assigned to the Ecuadorian Air Force
Ecuadorian Micro Gravity flight Program
The PEVM-G is a micro gravity flight and training program jointly operated between the EXA and the Ecuadorian Air Force based on the Ecuadorian micro gravity plane developed by both institutions, the PEVM-G is dedicated to:
- Training of officers and astronauts
- Biomedical research in micro gravity
- Educational support on all academic levels
- Scientific research in micro gravity
Space Flight Control Center
The HERMES-A/MINOTAUR Space Flight Control Center, built and operated by the EXA is located in Guayaquil, it is the first Internet-to-Orbit gateway in the world and began operations on June 6 2009, with a max range of tracking and detection of 6000kms and a sensibility of 0.2 watts at such distance, it is the most sensible array in the region. The station is capable of relaying signals between any computer on the Internet and spacecrafts in orbit, it has 4 modes of operation:
- MODE A (Alpha): Reception of data from orbit and relay trough Internet
- MODE B (Beta) : Uplink/downlink full duplex connection between computers on the Internet and orbiting spacecrafts
- MODE C (Gamma): Half duplex voice conversation between any computer on the Internet and manned spacecrafts
- MODE D (Delta): Automated APT/HRPT signal relay from weather satellites to any computer on the Internet
HERMES-A/MINOTAUR has 3 main functions:
- Space flight dynamics and communications research facility
- Fourth level education facility
- Internet to orbit gateway servicing the academic and education community
The station was built with the cubesat community in mind, to allow universities and research institutes around the world to track and communicate with their pico satellites while allowing a technology transfer to EXA.
The A SATELLITE IN CLASSROOM Program
On November 20 2009, EXA started the A SATELLITE IN CLASSROOM program, based on the HERMES Delta mode, which provides an automatic satellite signal feed through internet so the schools connected can access earth observation satellites in real time and download pictures in many different spectrum of light of the observed region. As a result, students as young as 2nd grade can now work the whole NOAA satellite constellation and learn about satellites, the earth and the weather.
As November 2009, there are 2 schools within the program, the Academia Cotopaxi and the Ecomundo, this are the first elementary schools in the world to be able to reach satellites in real time without using their own ground station.
Ensigns and emblems
EXA uses some ensigns and emblems in the uniform of its astronaut corps and they are also used by the Aerospace corps of the Ecuadorian Air Force. Also EXA Astronaut Corps members wear black flight suits and their dress uniforms are also black with silver accents. According to one EXA directive the reason for this combination is "black as the sky, silver as the stars"
References
External links
- EXA- AGENCIA ESPACIAL CIVIL ECUATORIANA
- The Ecuadorian Civilian Space Program
- The first Ecuadorian Astronaut
- Cal Poly, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, California
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