Space Operations Center (Brazil)

The Space Operations Center (Portuguese: Centro de Operações Espaciais - COPE) is a facility in Brasília operated by the Aerospace Operations Command to control and oversee the Brazilian satellites and other space activities. COMAE and its subordinate COPE facility is a permanent Brazilian armed forces joint command that includes both Army and Navy personnel. The center supports a geosynchronous communications satellite and two imaging satellites in low earth orbit.^[2]

Space Operations Center
Centro de Operações Espaciais
Brasília, DF in Brazil
COPE in 2020
Site information
Type	Space control center
Owner	Aerospace Operations Command
Controlled by	Brazilian Air Force
Open to the public	No
Site history
In use	2020-present
Sources:[1]

History and mission

The COPE was inaugurated on 23 June 2020 by President Jair Bolsonaro.^[3] The main mission of the facility is the operation and control the SGDCs satellites in partnership with Telebras.^[3] Other space activities will be conducted from the COPE as part of the Brazilian Space Agency operations.^[4]

In 2023, Brazil space advocates began developing proposals for installation of a space collision monitoring and analysis center to support Brazil's space autonomy.^[5]

In April 2024, the commanders of U.S.Space Command and the Brazil Space Operations Center signed a memorandum of agreement to assign a liaison officer to USSPACECOM to provide Brazilian armed forces expertise and further USSPACECOM-Brazil cooperation in the military space arena.^[6]