Mexican NASA

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - They may be light years
away from fulfilling their dream, but Mexican lawmakers are
preparing to launch a national space agency they hope could one
day stand tall beside the United States' NASA.
Mexico's lower house passed a law on Wednesday, which if
approved by the upper chamber, would create a space agency to
coordinate research and work with universities and the private
sector to launch communication and weather satellites.
With an initial budget proposal of less than $2 million,
the backers of the Mexican Space Agency say it would struggle
to challenge its northern neighbor's National Aeronautics and
Space Administration, or NASA, but hope it would draw Mexico
into the international space community, bringing access to
cutting-edge technology and research.
"We'd love it to become the Mexican NASA, but obviously the
levels of investment are incomparable. It's very distant,
perhaps not in the vision but in resources," a spokesman for
the Mexican Congress's Science and Technology Commission, which
drew up the law, said Thursday.
The spokesman said the agency would help Mexico advance in
diverse fields of science and technology, including robotics,
electronics and telecommunications.
The commission hopes the law will be swiftly passed in the
Senate, allowing the agency to start operating next year.
However, not all politicians support the plan. The ruling
National Action Party, which has a minority in Congress, voted
against the initiative, saying the money would be better spent
on eradicating widespread poverty.