Mexico, NASA to Collaborate on Satellite Project

Mexican universities will work on the “AztechSat Constellation” project under the coordination of the Mexican Space Agency (AEM) and NASA, aiming to develop new generation sustainable satellites that protect marine fauna.

“It is a reason to be proud that the performance of Mexican talent in the development of nanosatellites has already been qualified as similar to that of several NASA engineers by NASA itself. This motivates AEM to continue doubling efforts in the training and education of young human capital,” said Salvador Landeros Ayala, Director General, AEM.

AEM made the announcement during the third National Space Activities Congress (CONACES 2022). The universities that will participate on the project are UNAM, Universidad Panamericana, Universidad Nacional Aeronáutica de Querétaro (UNAQ), Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Puebla (UPAEP) and Universidad Politécnica de Querétaro (UPQ).

“This is a second step for the AztechSat project, but a great step for Mexico, which with the AztechSat-1 obtained immediate recognition from NASA for the talent, dedication and commitment of its youth, which I am sure will be repeated with this new generation of satellites because technology that does not yet exist will be developed, and derivatives of this technology will be applied in the near future for the space exploration of the moon in the Artemis project,” said Andrés Martínez, Program Executive at Advanced Exploration Systems, NASA. Martínez will coordinate the project, which is expected to last three years.

The first step of the AztechSat project, the launch of the first Mexican nanosatellite “AztechSat-1” in the International Space Station, managed to communicate with the Globalstar satellite constellation, about 1,000 km above its orbit, as reported by MBN.

The new project will develop a marine animal monitoring system under a unique institutional collaboration with five universities, two space agencies and opportunities for the training of highly specialized talent, said William Lee Alardín, Coordinator of Scientific Research, UNAM.

Queretaro, which is one of the leading states within the Mexican aerospace sector, will be part of the project for the first time, with the participation of UNAQ and UPQ. "The importance of our participation is that this will support the Artemisa project, which will take the first woman to the moon. We are confident the project’s success and we do not want Queretaro to be left out in this effort,” said Enrique Sosa, President, UNAQ.