Ecuadorian Civilian Space Agency

Infobox Civil Agency
agency_name = Agencia Espacial Civil Ecuatoriana
abbreviation = EXA

logo_width = 140px
logo_caption = Motto:"De un sueño a las estrellas"


seal_width =
seal_caption =
formed = 1 November 2007
preceding1 =
management =
headquarters = Guayaquil, Ecuador
employees =
budget = mixed funding
chief1_name = Hector Carrion
chief1_position = Director General
chief2_name =
chief2_position =
department =
child1_agency =
website = http://www.exa.ec|www.exa.ec

The Ecuadorian Civilian Space Agency (EXA) (Spanish: "Agencia Espacial Civil Ecuatoriana") is the organization in charge of administering and executing the Ecuadorian civilian space program and conducting scientific research on space and planetary sciences. It is a mixed capital non-profit organization, 50% civilian and 50% Ecuadorian government through the Ecuadorian Air Force. It was established on November 1, 2007 and includes the first Ecuadorian trained astronaut, Ronnie Nader, among its staff members.

History

EXA was established on November 1, 2007 as a independent civilian organization in charge of administering and executing the Ecuadorian Civilian Space Program and to conduct scientific research on space and planetary sciences and encourage the development of sciences in the Ecuadorian education system.

EXA had its first achievement with [http://www.exa.ec/bp16/index-es.html Project DAEDALUS] , on May 6, 2008, during the EXA/FAE-02 mission when they successfully tested a modifiyed Sabreliner T-39 of the Ecuadorian Air Force flown by FAE pilots and adapted with a device created by EXA to generate microgravity by sustaining cibernetically assisted parabolic flight, becoming the first country in Latin America in developing this kind of technology by their own means.

On June 19, 2008, EXA flew in microgravity the youngest human being in history, [http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/adjudications/080623_Youngest_Person_Microgravity.aspx Jules Nader] , seven years old, establishing the Guinness world record for this newly created scientific category.

EXA jointly operates with the Ecuadorian Air Force the Ecuadorian Micro Gravity flight Program. Space Adventures is a provider for EXA, providing services to retrofit another 0G plane, a FAE Boeing 727-100.

Since September 29 2008 EXA is a member of the International Astronautical Federation

Organization

The Agency is organized with the following divisions
# Administration
# Space Operations
##Mission Control and Planning
##Astronaut Corps
##Engineering
#Sciences
##Planetary sciences
##Space sciences
##Information sciences
# International Relationships
# Corporate relationships
# Academic relationships

Infobox Astronaut
name =Ronnie Antoine Nader Bello


type =EXA Astronaut
nationality =Ecuadorian
date_birth =July 10, 1967
place_birth =Guayaquil, Ecuador
occupation =Space Operations Director at EXA
rank =
selection =June 8 2007
mission =None
insignia =|

The Ecuadorian Civilian Space Program

The Ecuadorian Civilian Space Program has three phases, Suborbital, Orbital and Lunar, in the first Suborbital phase, three manned missions are planned, the orbital phase has at least two manned missions and three unmanned missions and the Lunar phase is composed of four unmanned and one manned mission.

ESAA-01, the first suborbital mission is set for year 2009, it will be manned by Ronnie Nader and will carry two scientific experiments designed to study the radiation environment on the suborbital space zone. It is not clear from where the mission will take off, however some EXA executives have stated that, depending on some key factors, it is possible that the mission will launch from some point in the Ecuadorian coastal region.

This first phase employs a novel and ingenious scheme for low cost scientific access to space, renting the exclusive use of suborbital commercial space ships to develop this scientific missions, in order to be able to offer free or nearly no cost access to scientific research opportunities in space for Ecuadorian academic institutions. Other space agencies like NASA, have similar schemes for [http://www.livescience.com/blogs/2008/07/09/nasa-eyes-commercial-suborbital-vehicles-for-science-duties/ suborbital space scientific research] this is due the convenience and low cost of renting commercial suborbital ships instead of developing and maintaining their own.

All the manned and unmanned missions for the Ecuadorian space program involve scientific experiments developed in the country; the objective, EXA has said, is the "Encourage the scientific and technological development of the country and to inspire the next generations of Ecuadorian scientists, engineers and explorers, actually, the experiments for the ESAA-01 mission have been assigned to the [https://www.focus.espol.edu.ec/html/webapp/templates/documentos/2007_07_mision_suborbital.pdf Escuela Politecnica del Litoral] and the Ecuadorian Air Force

Ecuadorian Micro Gravity flight Program

The PEVM-G is a micro gravity flight and training program jointly operated between the EXA and the Ecuadorian Air Force based on the Ecuadorian micro gravity plane developed by both institutions, the PEVM-G is dedicated to:
* Training of officers and astronauts
* Biomedical research in micro gravity
* Educational support on all academic levels
* Scientific research in micro gravity

Ensigns and emblems

EXA uses some ensigns and emblems in the uniform of its astronaut corps and they are also used by the Aerospace corps of the Ecuadorian Air Force.

Also EXA astronaut corps use black flight suits and its dress uniforms are also black with silver accents, accordingly to one EXA directive the reason for this is because the combination is "black as the sky, silver as the stars"

External links

* [http://www.exa.ec/ Web site]
* [http://exa.ec/ESAA-PECE.htm The Ecuadorian Civilian Space Program]
* [http://exa.ec/ronnie-nader.htm The first Ecuadorian Astronaut]
* [http://0gecuador.org PEVM-G - The Ecuadorian Micro Gravity flight Program]