National space agency of Brazil. Formerly under Brazilian military control, in 1994 AEB became a government entity under civilian control responsible for the country’s space programme. The agency works jointly with four Brazilian aviation and technical institutes, operates two launch centres—one at Alcântara and another at Barreira do Inferno—and pursues a policy of joint technological development with more advanced spacefaring nations. Brazil is a partner for cooperation in the International Space Station and sent its first native astronaut (Marcos Pontes) there in 2006.

Since its inception, AEB has developed several national satellites; its first, Satélite de Coleta de Dados-1, was launched aboard a Pegasus rocket from Cape Canaveral in 1993. The Agency has also launched a series of homegrown sounding rockets: the Sonda family (1965–2002) and the VSB family (2004–16); another rocket family (VLS) was cancelled after the rocket exploded on the pad in 2003, killing 21 people. The VSB, however, has had 21 launches to date, including Brazil’s first rocket into sub-orbital space on 23 October 2004. On 4 May 2017, Brazil launched its first dual civilian–military geostationary satellite for defence and strategic communications from Kourou, French Guiana.

AEB’s main priorities now are to produce independent space-based technologies able to send domestically made satellites into space with its own rockets by the end of the decade.