In Mexico there is little supply of aerospace careers and, mostly, they are focused on manufacturing, so setting up a laboratory for space development is done from scratch and, therefore, it is very costly. This is where universities, such as Panamericana, must be able to provide work space and facilities for interaction with other institutions.
Collaboration between associations allows possible space developments to take much less time than expected, since it makes it easier to visualize the progress made by other institutions and to mitigate risks through the experiences gained in individual processes. It is because of the above that the main need to realize space technology is mutual cooperation.
Recently, Mexican universities have opted for space research and technological development. All this accompanied by enthusiastic students to take steps in the new Mexican space age. It can be noted that these advances have been made with great effort and manage to raise funds and make agreements between institutions in various fields.
Universities for Aztechsat
Around the world, the aerospace industry has played a very important role in the progress of new technologies. The AztechSat constellation, a project developed by Mexican minds, seeks to promote aerospace progress in our country through the perfection of a constellation of nanosatellites for research purposes, the first project of its kind in our country.
AztechSat is a project that emerged from Colibri Missionin which the three sites of Universidad Panamericana participate. The contributions that this project can make -in addition to the tracking of marine mammals- is the technological development, the generation of knowledge and the consolidation of collaboration between Mexican institutions for national development.
These breakthroughs have been praised by the scientific community and have also demonstrated that the education system in Mexico, whether private or public, is significant for foreign companies and universities in a joint collaboration.
Dr. Héctor Eduardo Gilardi Velázquez, professor at the School of Engineering, comments: "We are convinced that this project will be the first edition of many subsequent collaborations in which we expect to have a national growth with the participation of different institutions and agencies that focus their interest in the development of space technologies.
Future and importance of the space industry in Mexico
At present, companies have been created at the industrial level where various components are manufactured and assembled as supplies for the United States. This fact highlights how important it is to start promoting a true Mexican aerospace industry with its own identity in order to stop being suppliers and become developers of space missions.
"The growing foreign investment in the aerospace industry in Mexico (3285 million dollars from 2007 to 2016) tells us that we are at the right time to start investing in our own technology. We have left behind the critical stage of zero participation and have advanced to being potential technology developers. There is still a long way to go, but with the right collaboration between the public and private sectors we will soon be able to have a real space program in the country", concludes Héctor.
