Venezuela

Abstract

With the aim of strengthening its sovereignty, protecting its territorial integrity and security, and guaranteeing telecommunications services to its people, Venezuela decided to develop its space sector. Despite the difficulties of its internal political and economic crisis of recent years, Venezuela continues to carry out several space activities, in particular the development of its national satellite program. This chapter presents Venezuela’s current space activities. Section 15.1 presents the basic facts of Venezuela; Sect. 15.2 concerns Venezuela’s space history; Sects. 15.3 and 15.4 focus on the country’s space programs, laws and actors; Sect. 15.5 describes the cooperation agreements adopted by Venezuela with other countries; Sect. 15.6 presents the Venezuelan satellite programs, and Sects. 15.7 and 15.8 concentrate on the development of space technology and the capacity-building programs of Venezuela.