Brazil Tests Recoverable Microgravity Platform on Suborbital Flight

Overview

• Operation Potiguar 2, which runs until 19 September 2026, is performing in‑flight validation of the recoverable Platform Suborbital de Microgravidade Recuperável (PSM‑R) while teams monitor telemetry and tracking.
• The PSM‑R is riding a VS‑30 V16 sounding rocket roughly 9 meters long with a 401‑kilogram payload that simulations place near 100 kilometers altitude and about 90 kilometers downrange.
• The platform carries a parachute recovery system, experiment modules, a service and control unit, a cold‑gas system, balance rings and an 'ioiô' rotation‑control mechanism to stabilize the capsule before separation.
• About 160 military and civilian personnel from the Instituto de Aeronáutica e Espaço, Agência Espacial Brasileira and Força Aérea Brasileira are coordinating launch, safety, tracking and sea/air recovery operations from CLBI.
• Teams will recover the platform and analyze flight telemetry and returned hardware to determine whether the recovery suite worked as planned and to inform future suborbital and orbital microgravity missions.