The president of Brazil, Dilma Rousseff, has decided to abandon a project for a joint satellite launch system Cyclone-4 that Brazil has been conducting for 12 years with the Government of Ukraine, the Brazilian newspaper Folha de Sao Paulo reported on Thursday.

According to the outlet, Rousseff made this decision last January after a panel of experts considered the project to be unfeasible. Brazil had invested over 1 billion reals ($329 million) in the project, expecting it to be loss-making for at least 20 more years.

The project began in 2003 with a space cooperation agreement between Brazil and Ukraine. According to the deal, Ukraine was to ensure the development of the launch vehicle and the preparation of the necessary manufacturing base. In turn, Brazil was to create a common infrastructure for the Alcantara Launch Center.

However, the project has been hampered since the beginning by financing problems.

Source: Sputnik News