By Kurtis Archer | 2025-12-19

As the new global "space race" picks up pace, Latin American countries are actively shaping their own destinies in orbit, informed by the diversity of their ambitions and bilateral and multilateral alliances.

Latin American nations stretching from Mexico to Central America, the Caribbean islands and South America have different space priorities and distinct strategies, reflecting their distinctive goals and priorities.

The region includes established space nations, such as Brazil and Argentina, as well as emerging actors like Colombia and Peru.

Each has a different focus: While Brazil and Argentina are expanding their Earth observation and telecommunications activities, for example, Colombia and Peru are pursuing partnerships for commercial, military and scientific projects in orbit.

In the absence of a fully representative regional space entity -- the Latin American and Caribbean Space Agency (ALCE) is missing key players like Brazil -- many nations are pursuing bilateral and multilateral partnerships on their own.

Some are looking beyond their regional neighbors to nations such as the United States, Europe, Türkiye, Israel and Saudi Arabia as they pursue their goals, Ariel González Levaggi wrote in a June analysis for TRENDS Research & Advisory.

These new alliances and partnerships are ushering in a new era, as traditional regional relationships and alliances give way to a more complex and multipolar global space order.

Divergent aspirations

"Latin American actors operate in space as they do in other domains, with complex moves in both the domestic and foreign policy realms," Laura Delgado López wrote in July 2024 for the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

The region's space sector reflects a divergence of strategic priorities, with national space programs largely built around domestic needs such as agricultural monitoring and national defense.

The region’s historic space powers are Brazil and Argentina, which manufacture and test satellites and share a practical approach to space that is centered on Earth observation and telecommunications.

The Brazilian Space Agency (AEB) focuses on its Amazonia satellite series, used to monitor deforestation in the Amazon without relying on third-party data, and has forged international agreements for scientific and technological cooperation.

Argentina’s National Commission for Space Activities (CONAE) has advanced radar technology with its SAOCOM constellation, essential for monitoring agricultural information like soil moisture.

Argentina also prioritizes sovereign communications with a state-owned enterprise, ARSAT, that operates geostationary satellites – a capability few nations in the Global South currently possess.

In contrast, Colombia does not have the heavy industrial base of Brazil and Argentina, and its approach to space leverages its private sector and international commercial partnerships.

The private Colombian Space Agency (AEC) has charged into the commercial space ecosystem, and in November signed an agreement with the US company Vast for cooperation on commercial space stations.

In pursuing this path, Colombia is skipping the development of its own launch systems and going straight to orbital habitats.

Meanwhile, the Pacific nations of Chile and Peru increasingly view space through a security and defense lens. Chile does not have a centralized civil space agency, and thus its space activities are heavily integrated into its Air Force (FACh).

The nation is currently transitioning from its aging FASat optical capability to a new system focused on continuous Earth observation.

Peru’s space agency, CONIDA, operates one of the most advanced optical satellites in the region (PeruSat-1) but is increasingly focused on space situational awareness (SSA).

Peru has joined US Space Command for drills such as "Resolute Sentinel" and "Harpy Sur," highlighting its focus on observing and tracking orbital debris and positioning itself as a Latin American leader on space traffic management.

Bilateral initiatives

The Argentina-Brazil SABIA-Mar (Satellites for Environmental Information of the Sea) scientific mission was designed to monitor the ocean’s ecosystems and coasts, but also as a diplomatic bridge between South America’s largest rivals.

The mission involves two satellites: SABIA-Mar 1 under Argentina’s responsibility and SABIA-Mar 2 under Brazil’s.

The first satellite is a joint effort between CONAE and the private company INVAP, and the second is a joint effort between AEB and the National Institute for Space Research (INPE).

“The concept is that the two satellites will work together to gather twice the amount of information,” said AEB president Marco Chamon.

While this division of labor was intended to foster cooperation, the project has suffered numerous delays attributable to budgetary issues and political differences, with its launch targets being pushed out from as early as 2017.

Yet the two sides remain committed to the mission, Delgado López notes, highlighting it as an example of "South-South competition and cooperation."

SABIA-Mar demonstrates that while bilateral space cooperation is vulnerable to political and economic headwinds, established plans for technological and industrial growth can help to keep projects afloat.

Regional integration

The launch of the Latin American and Caribbean Space Agency (ALCE) was widely regarded as the region’s "ESA moment" -- an effort to create a unified bloc that could operate on equal footing with global space powers.

The ALCE charter has 21 signatories and aims to launch satellites, share remote sensing data for disaster management, and stimulate a regional space economy.

It reflects an ambitious desire to pool resources and emerge as a major player in the space domain. Yet the region is suffering difficulties of political technical integration that have prevented the ALCE from realizing its full potential.

Brazil’s decision to pursue its own bilateral dealings undercuts the technical legitimacy of ALCE, as the nation has the region's largest space budget and is the most advanced country in Latin America in terms of space infrastructure.

Amid the challenges of regional integration, Latin American nations are pivoting to bilateral partnerships with nations outside the region, thereby furthering their ambitions and objectives in the new space race.