Abstract
One decade ago, Bolivia decided to develop its national space sector by establishing a national space agency. A few years later, Bolivia created its first institutional strategic plan to foster its space sector in the following years. Since then, Bolivia has increased little by little its space activities thanks to the work, jointly or separately, of the government and the academia. This chapter briefly presents a general overview of Bolivia’s current space activities. Special attention is put on Bolivia’s space actors and programs, the legal space and telecommunications framework, the cooperation programs adopted by Bolivia and other international partners, national satellite capacities, and capacity building and outreach on space issues.
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- 1.
Bolivia cuenta con más de 11 millones de habitantes a 2018, Instituto Nacional de Estadística, Estado Plurinacional de Bolivia, https://www.ine.gob.bo/index.php/notas-de-prensa-y-monitoreo/itemlist/tag/Poblaci%C3%B3n (accessed 5 October 2019).
- 2.
Datos generales, Estado Plurinacional de Bolivia, Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores, Embajada de Bolivia en Buenos Aires – Argentina, https://www.embajadadebolivia.com.ar/bolivia/el-pais/datos-generales/ (accessed 5 October 2019).
- 3.
Bolivia, Ficha país, Oficina de Información Diplomática del Ministerio de Asuntos Exteriores, Unión Europea y Cooperación, España, September 2019, p. 1, http://www.exteriores.gob.es/Documents/FichasPais/BOLIVIA_FICHA%20PAIS.pdf (accessed 5 October 2019).
- 4.
Art 1, Constitución Política del Estado, H. Congreso Nacional, 7 February 2009.
- 5.
Ibid., Art. 146.
- 6.
On 10 November 2019, president Evo Morales stepped down and flew to Mexico three days later. On 12 November, Jeanine Áñez became the intern president of the Republic of Bolivia.
- 7.
Ibid., Art. 166.
- 8.
Ibid., Art. 180.
- 9.
Ibid., Art. 206.
- 10.
Bolivia, Ficha país, Oficina de Información Diplomática del Ministerio de Asuntos Exteriores, Unión Europea y Cooperación, España, September 2019, p. 1, http://www.exteriores.gob.es/Documents/FichasPais/BOLIVIA_FICHA%20PAIS.pdf (accessed 5 October 2019).
- 11.
Ibid., p. 2.
- 12.
Agencia Boliviana Espacial (ABE).
- 13.
The natural resource orbit-spectrum and its associated frequencies registered in the name of Bolivia according to the ITU’s Radiocommunications Regulations are assigned to ABE for its use in Bolivian satellite networks, namely the Communications Satellite Program TUPAK KATARI. In case ABE does not use the available orbit-spectrum and associated frequencies natural resources, the use of this resources will be defined according to the integral policies of the Telecommunications and TIC’s sector. See Art. 17 of Law N° 164—General Law on Telecommunications and TIC’s.
- 14.
Ibid., Art. 3.
- 15.
Historia, Agencia Boliviana Espacial, https://www.abe.bo/nosotros/historia/ (accessed 18 September 2019).
- 16.
Plan Estratégico ABE 2016–2020, p. 6.
- 17.
Art. 7, Decreto Supremo N° 0423, Gaceta Oficial de Bolivia, 10 February 2010, https://www.abe.bo/files/marco-normativo/DS0423.pdf (accessed 17 September 2019).
- 18.
Marco legal, Viceministerio de Telecomunicaciones, https://vmtel.oopp.gob.bo/index.php/informacion_institucional/Marco-Legal,981.html (accessed 18 September 2019).
- 19.
Autoridad de Regulación y Fiscalización de Telecomunicaciones y Transportes. See art. 17, Law N° 164—General Law on Telecommunications and TIC’s.
- 20.
Plan Estratégico 2016–2020, Agencia Boliviana Espacial, Empresa Pública Nacional Estratégica, La Paz, Bolivia, December 2016, https://www.abe.bo/files/planificacion/PlanEstrategicoABE2016-2020.pdf (accessed 18 September 2019).
- 21.
Decreto Supremo N° 0423, Gaceta Oficial de Bolivia, 10 February 2010, https://www.abe.bo/files/marco-normativo/DS0423.pdf (accessed 17 September 2019).
- 22.
Decreto Supremo N° 0599, Gaceta Oficial de Bolivia, 18 August 2010, https://www.abe.bo/files/marco-normativo/DS0599.pdf (accessed 17 September 2019).
- 23.
Empresa Nacional Pública Estratégica.
- 24.
Ministerio de Obras Públicas, Servicios y Vivienda.
- 25.
Historia, Agencia Boliviana Espacial, https://www.abe.bo/nosotros/historia/ (accessed 17 September 2019).
- 26.
On 25 February 2011, the Bolivian Senate approved the binational convention for the construction of the satellite TUPAC KATARI, Ibid.
- 27.
Several ABE’s internal regulations are available at Marco normativo, Agencia Boliviana Espacial, https://www.abe.bo/nosotros/transparencia/marco-normativo/ (accessed 17 September 2019).
- 28.
Ley N° 164, Ley General de Telecomunicaciones, Tecnologías de Información y Comunicación, 8 August 2011, https://www.abe.bo/files/marco-normativo/LeyTelecomunicaciones.pdf (accessed 17 September 2019).
- 29.
Ibid., Art. 1.
- 30.
Ibid., Art. 2.1.
- 31.
Ibid., Art. 3.1.
- 32.
In South America only Bolivia and Suriname have not ratified any of the UN Space Treaties. See Status of International Agreements relating to activities in outer space as at 1 January 2019, A/AC.105/C.2/2019/CRP.3, 1 April 2019, http://www.unoosa.org/documents/pdf/spacelaw/treatystatus/AC105_C2_2019_CRP03E.pdf.
- 33.
B. de Selding Peter, China to Build, Launch Bolivian Telecom Satellite, SpaceNews, 2 April 2010, https://spacenews.com/china-build-launch-bolivian-telecom-satellite/ (accessed 19 September 2019).
- 34.
Historia, Agencia Boliviana Espacial, https://www.abe.bo/nosotros/historia/ (accessed 19 September 2019).
- 35.
Bolivia y Argentina se reúnen para impulsar cooperación espacial en satélites de prospección, Ministerio de Comunicación, 2 September 2014, https://www.comunicacion.gob.bo/?q=20140902/16565 (accessed 19 September 2019).
- 36.
Bolivia y Argentina realizan la III Reunión Técnica Bilateral de Vicecancilleres, Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores, La Paz, 25 February 2019, http://www.cancilleria.gob.bo/webmre/noticia/3159 (accessed 19 September 2019). In April 2019, both countries signed an Interinstitutional Agreement between the Ministry of Public Communication of the Republic of Argentina, and the Ministry of Public Works, Services and Housing of the Plurinational State of Bolivia on the Provision of Satellite Services and Facilities, see Argentina – Bolivia: Comunicado Conjunto, Información para la Prensa N° 155/19, Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores y Culto, República Argentina, 22 April 2019, https://www.cancilleria.gob.ar/es/actualidad/noticias/argentina-bolivia-comunicado-conjunto (accessed 19 September 2019).
- 37.
After the successful launch of Tupac-Katari, Bolivia planned to launch into outer space an Earth-observation satellite called “Bartolina Sisa”. However, the project was indefinitely posponed due to an unfavorable economic situation, see Plan Estratégico ABE 2016–2020, p. 11.
- 38.
Telecomunicaciones, Agencia Boliviana Espacial, https://www.abe.bo/actividades/telecomunicaciones/ (accessed 17 September 2019). In Amachuma, there is a teleport which offers telecommunications services to different clients, Ibid.
- 39.
Ibid.
- 40.
Ficha técnica TKSAT-1, Agencia Boliviana Espacial, https://www.abe.bo/ficha-tecnica-tksat-1/ (accessed 17 September 2019).
- 41.
Larocca Nicolás, “El satélite boliviano paga más impuestos que los extranjeros”, TeleSemana.com, 7 March 2019, (accessed 18 September 2019).
- 42.
Civil associations also contribute to this aim, such as the Bolivian Astronomy Association. See Asociación Boliviana de Astronomía, http://www.astrosurf.com/astrobo/ (accessed 5 October 2019).
- 43.
Universidad Mayor de San Andrés, Universidad Católica Boliviana, and Escuela Militar de Ingeniería, respectively.
- 44.
Formación de Recursos Humanos, Agencia Boliviana Espacial, https://www.abe.bo/actividades/formacion-de-recursos-humanos/ (accessed 18 September 2019).
- 45.
This master offers three specialities: satellite communications and global navigation satellite systems, remote sensing and geo-information systems, and micro-satellite technology. See Becas MASTA 2019, Agencia Boliviana Espacial, https://www.abe.bo/estudiantes/becasmasta2019/ (accessed 18 September 2019). ABE’s have channeled these scholarships since three years ago, see ABE lanza tres becas para maestrías en China, Agencia Boliviana Espacial, 8 January 2019, https://www.abe.bo/abe-lanza-tres-becas-maestrias-china/ (accessed 18 September 2019).
- 46.
Convocatoria, Búsqueda de Profesionales en Ciencias, Ingeniería y Tecnología, Agencia Boliviana Espacial, 2019, https://abe.bo/convocatoriaprofesionales.pdf (accessed 18 September 2019).
- 47.
Formación de Recursos Humanos, Agencia Boliviana Espacial, https://www.abe.bo/actividades/formacion-de-recursos-humanos/ (accessed 18 September 2019). See also Diplomado en Sistema de Comunicaciones Satelitales, 1era versión, Instituto de Electrónica Aplicada, Universidad Mayor de San Andrés, http://iea.umsa.bo/sistemas-de-comunicaciones-satelitales (accessed 18 September 2019).
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Froehlich, A., Amante Soria, D.A., De Marchi, E. (2020). Bolivia. In: Space Supporting Latin America. Studies in Space Policy, vol 25. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-38520-0_7
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