Outer space is no longer confined to a few powers in the globe as it happened during the Cold War. Emerging world powers such as India and China have already established their stringent presence in outer space through their respective space programmes. From the countries with the technology to develop their space programme, Brazil is still in its infancy stage. In terms of the territory, Brazil is a country of continental dimensions with a large land space and access to the South Atlantic. The objective of protecting outer space falls within the Brazilian Air Force, and it established the Strategic Space System Program in 2012 with the collaboration of the Ministry of Defense. Amid the difficulties that have encompassed the development of the space programme, Brazil seems to have begun its cooperation with both China and India in widening its space programme to a successful direction. It is indeed a strategic move made by Brazilians to acquire the best outcome by cooperating with the two states. India’s collaboration with the Brazilian space programme marked significant progress in 2021, when Amazonia 1 was launched from the Satish Dhawan Space Center in Sriharikota, India. The space alliance between India and Brazil dates back to 2002 followed by a framework agreement in 2004. (India and Brazil signed a framework agreement for peaceful use of outer space in 2004 as well an Agreement interinstitutional cooperation between the space agencies. Both countries have been collaborating in data sharing and satellite tracking of Indian satellites.) The cooperation between Brazil and China was formalised in 1984 when both states agreed for the first time to incorporate satellite cooperation into their bilateral relationship. Brazil maintained a good rapport with China parallel to continuing its partnership with India, which resulted in boosting the Brazilian space programme. China-Brazil Earth Resource Satellite (CBERS) underwent a few significant phases in its brief history from CBERS 2 to CBERS 4 with the most improvement it achieved between 2010 and 2015. Realistically, CBERS programme has played a crucial role in Brazil as it fosters Brazil’s ability for environmental monitoring in the Amazon region. The recent development of the China–Brazil space partnership reached a new juncture with the visit of Brazilian President Lula de Silva to Beijing, China, in 2023 April. However, unlike India’s partnership with Brazil, the Chinese involvement certainly contains some critical concerns. In particular, it has raised the concern among the US officials regarding the so-called “3 C’s”: The contested, congested, and competitive use of space. This chapter is an attempt to inquire about the potential challenges that Brazil is likely to confront with its partnership with India and China. Also, this chapter theorises the Neorealist position in IR related to Brazil’s current approach to its space partnership with both China and India.

Indo-Sino Shadows in Brazil’s Space Programme: Challenges and Benefits

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发表日期：

2025年

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Punsara Amarasinghe,
Davide Orsitto

摘要

Outer space is no longer confined to a few powers in the globe as it happened during the Cold War. Emerging world powers such as India and China have already established their stringent presence in outer space through their respective space programmes. From the countries with the technology to develop their space programme, Brazil is still in its infancy stage. In terms of the territory, Brazil is a country of continental dimensions with a large land space and access to the South Atlantic. The objective of protecting outer space falls within the Brazilian Air Force, and it established the Strategic Space System Program in 2012 with the collaboration of the Ministry of Defense. Amid the difficulties that have encompassed the development of the space programme, Brazil seems to have begun its cooperation with both China and India in widening its space programme to a successful direction. It is indeed a strategic move made by Brazilians to acquire the best outcome by cooperating with the two states. India’s collaboration with the Brazilian space programme marked significant progress in 2021, when Amazonia 1 was launched from the Satish Dhawan Space Center in Sriharikota, India. The space alliance between India and Brazil dates back to 2002 followed by a framework agreement in 2004. (India and Brazil signed a framework agreement for peaceful use of outer space in 2004 as well an Agreement interinstitutional cooperation between the space agencies. Both countries have been collaborating in data sharing and satellite tracking of Indian satellites.) The cooperation between Brazil and China was formalised in 1984 when both states agreed for the first time to incorporate satellite cooperation into their bilateral relationship. Brazil maintained a good rapport with China parallel to continuing its partnership with India, which resulted in boosting the Brazilian space programme. China-Brazil Earth Resource Satellite (CBERS) underwent a few significant phases in its brief history from CBERS 2 to CBERS 4 with the most improvement it achieved between 2010 and 2015. Realistically, CBERS programme has played a crucial role in Brazil as it fosters Brazil’s ability for environmental monitoring in the Amazon region. The recent development of the China–Brazil space partnership reached a new juncture with the visit of Brazilian President Lula de Silva to Beijing, China, in 2023 April. However, unlike India’s partnership with Brazil, the Chinese involvement certainly contains some critical concerns. In particular, it has raised the concern among the US officials regarding the so-called “3 C’s”: The contested, congested, and competitive use of space. This chapter is an attempt to inquire about the potential challenges that Brazil is likely to confront with its partnership with India and China. Also, this chapter theorises the Neorealist position in IR related to Brazil’s current approach to its space partnership with both China and India.