Title
The space technology to solving societal issues in Bolivia: An overview
Date Issued
01 January 2017
Access level
metadata only access
Resource Type
conference paper
Publisher(s)
International Astronautical Federation, IAF
Abstract
Aerospace development for a country represents their technological level, development capacity, and their sovereignty. The development of the aerospace industry brings technology that the society use in the daily lives. The technology initially developed to explore the universe is the same that today we use in our daily lives. Today we can see that the South American countries, including Bolivia, are showing strong economic growth, and this leads to a higher rate of development and increased investment in new technologies. For example in recent years, it has seen as many governments in South America, have decided to invest in space systems. These space systems have different applications, among them we can mention, remote sensing technology for disaster management, urban planning improvement, environmental assessment, telecommunications systems. In the space technology field, Bolivia is developing its expertise with the creation of the Bolivian Space Agency (ABE), the launch of its first telecommunications satellite Túpac Katari (TKSat-1), the training of Bolivian professionals, and the creation of two ground stations. Other important thing is that the Bolivian Space Agency announced the country's willingness to purchase another satellite soon. In that context, the present research wants to show how our communication satellite has opened a great opportunity for our rural communities through the integration into their life new technologies of information and communication. Because, thanks to our satellite, over 1000 telecentres were installed in remote rural communities that never had direct access to telecommunications services. In these telecentres, thousands of Bolivians have, for the first time, the possibility of connecting to the world and somehow reduce the difference gap between the rural area and the urban area. The country knows that in this new era, we must move from being a country that dependent from others, to become a country applying the learned concepts. It is necessary to become a country with the capacity to do research activities and to be able to develop its technology because it has the human resource to meet this challenge and we need to offer a chance to inspire people and bring to their attention the potential and benefits of the space sector.
Start page
10568
End page
10574
Volume
16
Language
English
OCDE Knowledge area
Ingeniería aeroespacial
Scopus EID
2-s2.0-85051570113
ISSN of the container
00741795
ISBN of the container
9781510855373
Conference
Proceedings of the International Astronautical Congress, IAC: 68th International Astronautical Congress: Unlocking Imagination, Fostering Innovation and Strengthening Security, IAC 2017
Sponsor(s)
Two of the main programs who provide scholarships in the aerospace field are: 1) Project "100 Study Scholarships for Scientific and Technological Sovereignty," this program of the Bolivian government through the Ministry of Education awards outstanding Bolivian students with 100 annual scholarships to study postgraduate programs in universities of all the world, this project aims to support the training of scientists for the development of strategic areas of the country. In the area of aeronautics and space, masters programs are offered in aeronautical engineering and aerospace engineering. [10] 2) Scholarships of the China Scholarship Council (CSC) and the Regional Centre for Space Science and Technology Education in Asia and the Pacific (RCSSTEAP), through the Bolivian Space Agency grants scholarships to Bolivian professionals for Master programs in Space Technology Applications (MASTA) and a Doctoral Program on Space Technology Applications (DOCSTA), to be held at Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics Beihang University (BUAA) in China. [11] Some of the specialization programs are Remote Sensing and Geo-Information Systems (RS & GIS), Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS), Space Law and Policy and Micro-Satellite Technology.
Sources of information:
Directorio de Producción Científica
Scopus