Preparing for the SE*
Today I woke up at 7am after sleeping 4 hours, courtesy of the heat and mosquitos. I had a conference regarding the soon to be signed USA – Peru Free Trade Agreement at the Peruvian Export Association. It started at 8.30am so I had to arrive early if I wanted to find a parking space.
Well, the Conference started one hour later (thank god for Ipaq’s and ebooks) and the main speaker (the vice minister) didn’t come. But at least they sent a “high banana”. He was the Coordinator of the negotiation and he gave a great talk.
But, what does this have to do with the Space Elevator? A lot. The SE is going to be built at the backyard of South America, and, specifically, Peru & Ecuador. That means that if Brazil, with a population of 170’000,000, wants to send cargo to the Elevator, they will have to use the InterOceanic Highway that goes from the Atlantic Ocean (in Brazil) to the Pacific Ocean (in Peru).
Of course, they won’t send an advanced GEO lab through Peru if we are as politically unstable as other parts of the region. The Free Trade Treaty is an extraordinary opportunity for preparing a country as poor as Peru, for the challenges of the new economy that the SE will create.
On other news, I want to welcome Sam Rios, who is going to help us on the web translation to spanish. Thank you Sam for your support!
*This entry was originally posted in Liftport’s blog.