The adjustment in national State agencies will cause more than 15 thousand people to be left without work in the next few hours, in the midst of the economic crisis in Argentina. The National Commission for Space Activities (CONAE) was no exception: The Government did not renew a dozen contracts and the agency’s professionals are on alert in the face of possible new layoffs.
Until this Tuesday, CONAE had a staff of 279 professionals distributed almost equally between the agency’s headquarters in the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires and the Teófilo Tabanera Space Center in Falda del Cañete, located 30 km southwest of the city. From Cordoba.
Much of that total of Highly qualified employees are linked to the State through contracts for provision of services. Some of them, with daily tasks for more than a decade, always with the expectation of being part of the permanent staff.
As of Tuesday, there were 48 contracts in force with an end date of March 31. None were going to be renewed by decision of the government of Javier Mileiin line with the State’s downsizing policy that it has been carrying out in different agencies.
However, On Wednesday they announced that 38 professionals will continue with contracts for a short time longer, after which there could be news. Therefore, Ten people will not have jobs at CONAE at the beginning of Aprildespite the fact that they were not formally notified.
“The situation is desperate. We had to say goodbye to colleagues with many years of experience, and there could be several more in the coming months,” he told CORDOBA PROFILEEmiliano Baum, employee in the Engineering area, specialist in software development, systems integration and monitoring.
Anguish, anger and rejection
The CONAE is the only Argentine body competent to propose policies for the promotion and execution of activities in the space area for peaceful purposes in the productive, scientific, educational field and for the creation of innovative national technologies, according to the official website of CONAE. the agency.
“We know reliably that they are not members of any caste”says part of the statement from ATE, the union that brings together national state employees. “The job offer for people as specialized as those fired at CONAE means that the possibilities of development in the private sphere in a context of total recession cannot be satisfied in the short term, leaving our colleagues and colleagues completely helpless. their families,” they add.
In the text they affirm that the CONAE to date “works with a budget updated to December 2023”, while “the permanent liquefaction of salaries, with downward parity agreements” they put at risk the continuity of services and the “scientific-technological development tasks carried out by the organization”such as providing information in the event of natural disasters to mitigate their effects, early warning of fire outbreaks, detection of illegal fishing, activities linked to security and control of our sovereignty, among others.
Likewise, they indicated that in this context of indiscriminate adjustment a “large number of international agreements come into play with the European Space Agency, NASA, Italian, Norwegian or Japanese Space Agency, as well as companies from said countries with whom CONAE has ties and commitments of different types.”
CONAE space milestones
1996 – SAC-B satellite launched
On November 4, the first Argentine scientific satellite of the SAC series was launched, for studies of solar physics and astrophysics through the observation of solar flares, gamma ray flares, diffuse background X radiation and high-energy neutral atoms.
1998 – SAC-A satellite launch
On December 4, the SAC-A mission arrived in space, conceived as a technological model as part of the SAC-C Mission.
2000 – SAC-C satellite launch
SAC-C was launched into orbit on November 21, 2000 with a Delta II launcher, from Vandenberg (California), United States. It was the first Argentine Earth observation satellite. NASA and the space agencies of France, Italy, Denmark and Brazil participated in the mission.
2007 – Launch of Tronador I
The vehicle, just over 3 meters long, was launched on May 24 from the Manuel Belgrano Space Center, with a thrust of 550 kilograms of force.
2007 – VS30 launched
The VS-30 sounding rocket, with an Argentine payload and a Brazilian S-30 rocket, was launched on December 17 from Barrera do Inferno, Natal, Brazil. A gyroscope, accelerometer and positioning navigation system and attitude control were validated in flight.
2008 – Launch of the Tronador IB
On May 20, the Tronador IB was launched, about 6 meters long, with a thrust of 1.5 tons. The vehicle obtained a range of 20 kilometers and an apogee of 12 kilometers.
2011 – SAC-D Aquarius satellite launched
SAC-D was launched into orbit by NASA on June 10, 2011 with a Delta II 7320. The entire satellite was designed and built in Argentina, including the solar panels and CONAE instruments.
2014 – VEx1B launched
On August 15, the vehicle was launched from the Punta Indio Space Center. It was the first Latin American liquid fuel to be launched with navigation, guidance and automatic control.
2017 – VEx5A launched
On April 20, this vehicle was launched, allowing for more complex tests to be carried out on the development path of the Tronador II launcher. The upper part of the VEx5A maintained a similar configuration to the VEx1B and the lower part incorporated a new 11-ton thrust booster powered by the KC-1.
2018 – SAOCOM 1A satellite launch
This satellite, which is part of the SIASGE system, was launched on October 7. The objective is to measure soil moisture and emergency applications, such as detecting hydrocarbon spills at sea and monitoring water coverage during floods.
2020 – SAOCOM 1B satellite launch
The SAOCOM Constellation is completed, made up of two identical satellites that carry on board an L-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR).