World Space Week 2026: Latin America’s Space Agency and the Legal Work Ahead

The World Space Week runs from 4 to 10 October. The dates are not arbitrary. The first marks the launch of Sputnik 1 in 1957, and the second the entry into force of the Outer Space Treaty in 1967. One date celebrates the technology and the other the law that governs it.

For Latin America and the Caribbean, this year’s edition has a particular meaning. The region now has its own space agency, with its Constitutive Convention in force and its first General Assembly held. The political decision has been taken. The legal work is only beginning.

From idea to institution

The Constitutive Convention of the Latin American and Caribbean Space Agency (ALCE) was signed in Mexico City on 18 September 2021. It required eleven ratifications and entered into force in October 2024. The ratifying States include Mexico, Venezuela, Cuba, Paraguay, Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic, together with several Caribbean States.

The first General Assembly met in Querétaro, Mexico, on 20 February 2026. It approved the Agency’s internal regulations, confirmed its headquarters in Querétaro and elected its first Secretary General. Its initial programme focuses on Earth observation for climate monitoring, disaster early warning and agriculture, and on connectivity for rural areas.

The legal foundation

ALCE is an international organisation with its own legal personality and capacity. Its basis in general space law is sound. The Outer Space Treaty provides that the exploration and use of outer space shall be carried out for the benefit of all countries, and it makes cooperation a guiding principle. It also expressly contemplates space activities carried out by international organisations.

The model is familiar. The European Space Agency has shown for decades that national agencies and a regional body can coexist, with common programmes running alongside national ones. The Convention follows that logic. ALCE does not replace the Brazilian, Argentine or Mexican agencies, nor Venezuela’s ABAE. It coordinates them.

That distinction matters. Space capabilities in the region are uneven, and national agencies embody strategic interests tied to technological sovereignty. A coordinating body can pool resources, avoid duplicated effort and strengthen the region’s bargaining position when procuring technology. It can do so without asking any State to give up its own programme.

The questions the implementing rules must answer

A convention creates an organisation. It does not, by itself, make it operational. Five legal questions will determine whether ALCE works in practice.

Liability. Under the Outer Space Treaty, States bear international responsibility for national space activities, and launching States are liable for damage caused by their space objects. When an international organisation carries out the activity, responsibility is shared between the organisation and its member States. The Liability Convention allows an organisation to assume its rights and obligations by declaration, provided that a majority of its members are parties to that Convention and to the Outer Space Treaty. The European Space Agency has made that declaration. ALCE will need to decide whether and when to do the same, and how liability is allocated internally in the meantime.

Registration. Every space object must be registered by a launching State. Joint missions require the participants to agree which of them will act as State of registry, since jurisdiction and control follow registration.

Financing and return. The Agency’s viability depends on firm budgetary commitments. Its members differ widely in economic capacity, so the rules on contributions and on the distribution of contracts and benefits will be decisive. The European experience with geographic return offers a tested reference.

Procurement, intellectual property and technology transfer. Joint programmes generate data, designs and know-how. Ownership and licensing must be defined in advance, together with compliance with the export control regimes of third-country suppliers.

Dispute settlement and immunities. The headquarters agreement and the Agency’s privileges and immunities will define how contractors and partners can enforce their rights.

Venezuela’s position

Venezuela approved the Convention by law in December 2021 and took part in the first General Assembly through ABAE. Its treaty position is solid: according to United Nations records, it is a party to the Outer Space Treaty, the Liability Convention, the Registration Convention and the Moon Agreement.

Its operational experience comes from the Simón Bolívar telecommunications satellite, launched in 2008, and from two Earth observation satellites developed through international cooperation. ALCE would complement that experience. It offers access to shared infrastructure, joint programmes and regional training, which a single national programme cannot easily sustain.

What it means for the private sector

A regional agency is also a regional market. Satellite manufacturers, operators, ground segment providers and data companies will find a new contracting counterparty, with its own procurement rules. Insurers and financiers will need to price launch and in-orbit risk under a liability framework that is still being defined. Each of them should follow three developments closely: the Agency’s procurement regime, its position on liability and registration, and the national legislation that member States adopt to authorise and supervise private space activities.

The theme of World Space Week 2026 is "Rocket Revolution". Rockets draw the attention, but institutions decide who gets to fly. ALCE’s value will not lie in its formal creation. It will lie in whether its rules allow the region to stop acting in isolation and start acting together.

Diego Berrizbeitia Grand, Associate