Tech Roundup: Bezos and Brazil to space

This week: A new chapter for Brazil’s space program. How blockchain can foster education in Latin America. 

Brazil announces partnership with Amazon to develop space sector

The Brazilian Space Agency (AEB) announced a partnership this week with Amazon Web Services (AWS), aiming at the development of Brazil’s aerospace industry. The two parties signed a term of strategic intent and cooperation, the first of its type for Amazon in Latin America.

The partnership. The cooperation outlines three specific areas of collaboration designed to support the agency’s goals for long-term economic and technological development. They are:

• The implementation of national space research and development programs, providing credit, technical training, and commercial support to qualified national startups;
• An AWS open data sponsorship program that will “enable stakeholders to easily access and analyze spatial data, using cloud tools and technologies, in support of a variety of Brazilian space endeavors,” according to an agency statement.
• Holding discussions on national policies, strategies, and regulatory measures in support of Brazil’s civil, commercial, and national security space objectives.

Alcântara. The government also hopes the partnership will help achieve the agency’s long-standing goal to expand the use of the Alcântara Launch Center, situated in one of the world’s best locations for satellite launches.

• “The agreement with AWS is an important step towards promoting our space industry, at a time when Brazil...