Mexico wants to join the race for the space sector

Space is an expanding market and Mexico is looking to make its way through the development of the industry.

According to Morgan Stanley , globally in the short term, space as an investment theme could permeate other industries beyond aerospace and defense, such as the IT hardware and telecommunications sectors.

“The global space industry could generate revenue of more than $1 trillion or more by 2040, up from $350 billion today. However, the most important opportunities in the short and medium term may come from broadband internet access via satellite”, based on his study Space: Investing in the final frontier .

Given this expectation, various efforts are being made in Mexico to boost the space industry. According to Benjamin Najar, CEO of Thrusters Unlimited , the first Mexican company to own commercial observation satellites with very high resolution in orbit, space is the most lucrative industry in recent times given its expectations.

“The opportunities in downstream and upstream  are vast, from applications to full spacecraft integration. The reduction in production costs derived from the technological disruption that gave rise to the new space has generated an increase in the already growing demand from the private sector, as well as its supply ”, he expressed.

In this sense, the strategy is to promote and attract companies of products and services focused on space, whether direct or indirect, to establish themselves in Mexico. For this, he explained that they are working together with the congress and the science, technology and innovation commission, with the initiative of constitutional reform to its articles 28 and 73 of the deputy Jesús Briano Borunda, who is an aerospace engineer, to generate the legal framework and the laws that apply to the Mexican space law and thus give certainty to the investment of the space sector for national and foreign investors.

Once this modification is made, in the medium term there could be an exponential growth of the sector, as happened with the aerospace industry, which has come to export more than 9,000 million dollars in recent years. Currently, the Mexican Federation of the Aerospace Industry (Femia) has a space commission, with which it seeks to replicate the development that was carried out with the aerospace industry.

Thrusters Unlimited and the Mexican Space Agency (AEM) work on the design of programs for the State, so that the need for space products is generated and not only foreign products and services are acquired.

"This would give nations sovereignty and more autonomy in space applications, which are of high priority and extremely necessary for social development, national security, as well as planet conservation," he said.

In this way, it collaborates with the Latin American and Caribbean Space Agency  (ALCE), created in 2021, to make a coordinated effort together with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (SRE) to support the growth and development of the space industry and to be able to solve the support to the affiliated countries.

Space sector providers

According to projections from the Ministry of Economy , in 2025, the aerospace industry will be the tenth most important in the world, with more than 400 companies in the country, generating 110,000 jobs and 12 billion dollars in exports.

Mexico recognizes the importance of its participation in this sector. In 2021, the Mexican government signed its participation in the Artemis Agreements , the international program that seeks humanity to step on the Moon again, 50 years after the first moon landing.

To do this, Artemisa will develop all kinds of rovers , robotic landers, satellites, space stations, and infrastructure at the lunar base. The first teams will also be established to begin exploiting the resources of the Moon. 

As part of this agreement, space scientific and technological development will be promoted through the exchange of information, the development of joint projects with NASA and space companies and, gradually, the creation of Mexican space companies.

According to Najar, aerospace companies are expected to make this transition from opening and expanding their product lines to becoming suppliers to the space sector.

This, he considered, "is not such a great effort for them, since generally the aviation companies have their space lines and the supply chain is basically from the same suppliers," he explained.

This sector requires high-precision maquila, metal finishes , mechatronics, engineering consulting, foundry, aerospace engineering, programming, even gas companies such as hydrogen, among others.

Mexico in space

Although today there is a greater boom in the sector, Mexico has been active in this industry since 1957 and has participated in various projects. For example, in 2019 the WEA , with the support of NASA , launched AztechSat 1 , a CubeSat , bound for the International Space Station . And the AztechSat Constellation project is currently being carried out , which integrates the work of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), the Popular Autonomous University of the State of Puebla  (UPAEP), the Pan- American University (UP), the Aeronautical University in Querétaro (Unaq) and thePolytechnic University of Querétaro  (UPQ) to monitor marine species.

According to Carlos Contreras, rector of the UPQ , this project will allow the acquisition of new knowledge and skills for their professors of engineering in networks, telecommunications, manufacturing and mechatronics, which will give them added value, in addition to their participation with organizations such as AEM  and NASA .

UPQ participates in the development of the mathematical algorithm for the identification of the images collected  from cubesats or nanosatellites, in technology and data transmission, and the ground station that will monitor the constellation, among others.

Although the university lacks engineering in aeronautics, through its engineering in networks and telecommunications with telemetry, as well as mechatronics, it reaches out to this sector.

For Enrique Sosa, rector of Unaq, a boom in the space sector is approaching, so it is important not to be left out and be a participant through the development of skills from educational institutions to attract more processes, programs or projects to the country.

“There are companies that already develop space technology, observation, and manufacture satellite parts, so they must be supported with the generation of talent that is required,” he said.

Participation in the AztechSat Constellation will help educational institutions increase their capabilities in equipment aspects, which will benefit the development of student skills and that space research is carried out just as it is done in aeronautics.

“We believe that in 15 years we will be a relevant player in the space industry. And only by developing talent is how we are going to become leaders”, he concluded.