First steps to establish a small satellite program in Peru

In the past years a couple of universities in developing countries did manage to establish and develop small satellite programs in their countries. They were using the so-called Cubesat technology. Now it is the time for Peru in South America to do the same. The aim of this paper is to inform the space community on the first steps and achievements carried out by some Peruvian institutions to create an aerospace program starting with a small satellite project. This challenging project will be carried out with the involvement of governmental and educational institutions in Peru as well as abroad. The small satellite program will be conducted by the Center for Technological Information and Communications (CTIC) at the National University of Engineering (UNI) in Lima, Peru. CTIC has the goal of developing a Pico-satellite, using the technology of and having the size of a CubeSat, and to launch it in the next 3 years, demonstrating that in Peru such a space program is feasible. Since last year, the efforts of Peruvian students, young engineers, academic personal and consultants have been centralized in the definition of the mission design. They have already mastered to identify and select which subsystems the satellite will carry into space. The Peruvian government is also interested in and currently is working on the development of the aerospace area in the country. The National Commission of Investigation and Aerospace Development of Peru (CONIDA) and the Department of Defense are supporting such challenging and promising program. A first step has been achieved establishing the National Committee for Operations of Satellite Images (CNOIS). The objective and purposes of CNOIS is to promote the technological and scientific development of the country in the remote sensing area. This paper will describe the, until now, selected subsystems and the possible payload to be used during the operational mission live of the first Peruvian satellite. The progress of our society and- - country can be ensured by developing this kind of technology. It will give us a great opportunity to perform space science and exploration.