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Space ports still project our mind’s eyes to fiction films, to museums, or to pioneer agencies for the exploration of the cosmos. This scenario has however been changing in the last years, with the concur of the massive dependency on information circulation and the huge investments to make communication faster, more powerful and universally accessible. The world has changed, “second space era” has started and Portugal is running at the front line, preparing a space port to be ready in 2021, at a unique location – the island of Santa Maria, in the Azores archipelago, mid north Atlantic-ocean. The geostrategic position of the Azores is particularly interesting, having been the first discovered land out in the Atlantic in the 15th century, at the very beginning of the Portuguese discoveries era, and now allowing for a unique safe launching window at the same time accessible and equidistant from Europe, Western Coast of Africa, Central, Southern and North America. The outstanding conditions of the Azores for the installation of a space port are underlined by the result of the call for proposals to install and operate a Space Port, where 14 international consortiums presented their interest in the construction and operation. Major players … Read More