| Credit: Sergeant Roberto/Divulgao AEB |
The Brazilian satellite called SPORT (Shiny Prediction Observation Research Mission) will be launched this Tuesday (22), the result of a partnership between the Brazilian Space Agency (AEB) and the North American Space Agency (NASA). Ballistics will monitor and investigate magnetic anomalies in the South Atlantic for data collection.
The data collected will be part of studies of the effects of solar storms, which can cause disturbances such as plasma bubbles, which impair communications and GPS signals and could compromise security and the country’s critical infrastructure.
The launch of the sport will take place aboard the Elon Musk Space X rocket at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida (USA). The satellite has a maximum capacity of six liters and weighs up to 9 kg. The launch is scheduled for 5:54pm this Tuesday and can be watched live on YouTube by the Brazilian Space Agency from 5:30pm.
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Although Sport bears this name as an acronym for “Task for Research of Scintillation Prediction Observations”, in the free translation the name it received is also a tribute to the football team Sport Clube do Recife.
The shell is named after NASA Space Weather Division Commander Jim Spahn, who grew up in Recife and supported the team as a child. “With regard to the name, his intent was not only to honor his favorite team, but also to promote space education for the next generation,” the league said in a statement.
The nanosatellite was developed by the Instituto Tecnológico de Aeronáutica (ITA), in partnership with NASA, with scientific instruments provided by the Universities of Utah, Texas and Alabama; and by Aerospace Co., according to AEB.
In addition, the data obtained will be used by the Brazilian Program for Space Climate Study and Monitoring (Embrace), coordinated by INPE.
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