Latin America and the Caribbean: Working for the Economy and Knowledge of Space

“When the future is present.”

For humans, one of the main unknowns of knowing and managing their environment is the knowledge of what is beyond the sky…space. In Latin America and the Caribbean, derived from observing the skies, pre-Hispanic empires devoted a large part of their efforts to building their greatest works such as the pyramids, in honor of what they thought and developed in their worldview. .

In modern times, this unknown has continued to be a reason for the development of knowledge with scientific methodology. In the 1960s, the two major world powers, the United States and the then Soviet Union, built a large air infrastructure that allowed them to discover the Earth’s orbit from space and reach the Moon.

Subsequently, the growth of the use and exploitation of space has been fostered by satellites: tools that have allowed the development and growth of the infrastructure of countries, which until now continue to generate reasons for scientific, technological and innovative progress for the benefit of the population.

On April 11 and 12, the fifth Latin American round of the 2023 Manfred Lachs Space Law Moot Court Competition was held, bringing together 16 groups of law students from universities in Latin America and the Caribbean, mostly from Colombia, Chile, Argentina and Mexico. In the Mexican Ministry of Foreign Affairs to conduct simulations of courtrooms, to simulate trials derived from situations and confrontations for the use and exploitation of space under conditions of interpretation of legal regulations.

It was interesting to observe how future professionals were formed and trained during their school years to be clear about possible scenarios in the branch of law that is being formed and consolidated: space law. Under the instructions of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Marcelo Ebrard, all facilities were provided so that the competition and the competition were conducted in a manner similar to reality.

Teams from Chile and Mexico shone in the final, with the latter being the winners of the 2023 competition. The winning team consisted of Renata Robles Jurado and María Raquel Rosales Barraza, students at UNAM Faculty of Law. In October they will participate in the World Final Round within the framework of the International Astronautical Congress, in Baku, Azerbaijan.

Then, on October 13 and 14, in the same facilities of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the eighth international meeting ReLaCa Espacio México 2023 will take place, where papers on space policy and diplomacy will be presented; STEM education and space issues; economy, space activity and communications; Space law and space climate, among others.

This meeting is promoted by the representation of the Government of Mexico before the Latin American and Caribbean Space Agency (ALCE), which has developed a strategy of action in four main axes of immediate action, under the instructions of Secretary of State Ebarard will continue to promote projects and proposals that benefit the population, where only peaceful goals prevail .

By Gustavo Alonso Cabrera Rodriguez

Representative of Mexico before ALCE

LSN