Country Details

Costa Rica

Central America, bordering both the Caribbean Sea and the North Pacific Ocean, between Nicaragua and Panama

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Space

Detailed information and insights

Space agency/agencies

Costa Rican Space Agency (ACE; established by legislation in 2021)  (2025)

Note

note: ACE is a non-state, public entity subject to guidelines issued by the Ministry of Science, Technology, and Telecommunications of Costa Rica

Space program overview

has a small, recently established program focused on using space to develop the country’s economy and industry, including acquiring and using satellites; has built a remote sensing (RS) cube satellite; has relations with US space agencies and commercial space industries, as well as with the ESA and the Latin American and Caribbean Space Agency (2025)

Key space-program milestones

2018 - first domestically produced remote sensing cube satellite (Irazú) for monitoring tropical forests and climate change launched by US and deployed from the International Space Station

2021 - signed protocols for newly established Latin American and Caribbean Space Agency; opened US commercial company’s space radar facility for mapping and space situational awareness

2022 - domestically produced scientific device (Proyecto Musa or Musa Project) launched on European rocket

2024 - participated in first China-Latin America and the Caribbean Space Cooperation Forum