The Brazilian Space Agency, Brazil’s Institutional Security Office, and Secure World Foundation formally launched a Portuguese space handbook on November 5, 2026, during the eighth Summit for Space Sustainability. Published as O Manual para Novos Atores no Espaço, the edition brings the foundation’s introductory guide to space activities to Portuguese-speaking government officials, companies, and academic institutions.
The Brazilian Space Agency’s announcement describes a division of responsibilities among the three partners. The Institutional Security Office handled translation, the agency reviewed the text, and Secure World Foundation handled editing, formatting, and publication. Their cooperation followed a memorandum of understanding signed in December 2025.
The Portuguese edition includes a case study by Ian Grosner on the development of Brazil’s space-law framework and Law 14,946/2024. That addition places a national legislative example alongside the handbook’s explanations of international rules and operating practices.
A Portuguese Edition of the Revised Handbook
Secure World Foundation identifies the publication as the Portuguese edition of its second edition, revised in 2024. Its Portuguese publication page is dated October 25, 2026; the November 5 event was the formal launch reported by the Brazilian agency. The listed editors are Krystal Azelton, Victoria Samson, Ian Christensen, Peter Martinez, and Kathleen Brett.
The underlying Handbook for New Actors in Space addresses the relationship between international space governance, national regulation, and mission operations. Its intended readership includes public officials developing space policies, commercial operators entering the sector, universities, and investment and insurance organizations.
The revised handbook covers the Outer Space Treaty, registration of space objects, remote sensing, radio-frequency management, export controls, and orbital debris. These subjects connect the legal status of a mission with activities such as operating a spacecraft, communicating with it, and documenting its presence in orbit.
The second edition expanded treatment of United Nations space-sustainability guidelines and the UN Online Index of Objects Launched into Outer Space. It also covers the Wassenaar Arrangement and Missile Technology Control Regime, international arrangements relevant to controls on sensitive technology transfers.
Other sections address in-space servicing, assembly, and manufacturing, as well as operations in the region around Earth and the Moon. Commercial human-spaceflight safety is included. The publisher identifies case studies involving SpaceX’s Starbase, the Artemis Accords, and New Zealand’s approach to space regulation.
Brazil’s Law Provides a National Example
The Brazilian case study concerns a law enacted on July 31, 2024. The Chamber of Deputies’ legislative record identifies it as the General Law of Space Activities and records its original publication on August 1, 2024.
The law’s current text assigns regulation and oversight of civil space activities conducted in Brazil to the Brazilian Space Agency. The Air Force Command exercises the defense-space authority. Powers legally assigned to the national telecommunications regulator, Anatel, remain outside those assignments.
The activities covered include launches and returns in Brazilian territory, spacecraft development involving Brazilian entities, space tourism, satellite life-extension services, and debris removal. This gives the handbook’s Brazilian example relevance to businesses conducting operations beyond conventional satellite manufacturing.
The legislation also directs the agency to establish and coordinate the Brazilian Space Registry, known as Resbra. The registry collects and stores information about national space activities, and the law requires operators acting in Brazilian territory to provide information relevant to that system.
Connecting International Rules With Mission Operations
The handbook’s treatment of national regulation sits within an international framework explained in New Space Economy’s coverage of the law of outer space. Under Article VI of the Outer Space Treaty, states bear international responsibility for their national space activities, including activities carried out by nongovernmental entities. Those nongovernmental activities require authorization and continuing supervision by the appropriate state party.
Article VIII connects registration with jurisdiction and control over a space object and its personnel. These provisions explain why a guide for commercial and academic participants addresses government responsibilities alongside operational subjects. A privately operated mission has both an operator and a relationship with the state responsible for its authorization and supervision.
The Portuguese edition makes that material available through a free digital copy linked from Secure World Foundation’s publication page. The publisher also lists a printed edition. The Brazilian agency describes the translation as serving Portuguese-speaking communities beyond Brazil, extending access to the handbook’s existing guidance and its added national case study.
