Mexico’s first aerospace laboratory has opened in Culiacán, Sinaloa.

The lab is the brainchild of Eduardo Guizar Sainz, an industrial engineer and former NASA collaborator, and will offer aerospace courses to students from kindergarten age right up to the university level.

Guizar said that one of the skills students will learn is how to make rockets that can be launched to reach an altitude of more than three kilometers.

He said aerospace experts will be invited to the laboratory to share their expertise with students.

“We have a relationship with the Autonomous University of Baja California . . . We’ll also bring people from NASA, the National Polytechnic Institute, UNAM [the National Autonomous University] and universities in the United States,” Guizar said.

The engineer said the support of the Sinaloa government had enabled the lab to open in a scientific facility that was previously abandoned.

Guizar explained that he hoped to equip the lab with laser cutters, CNC routers, 3D printers and soldering irons among other equipment.

He added that the lab will be named after United States astronaut José Moreno Hernández, whose parents hail from Mexico.

Guizar also said the federal government and the private sector have to increase investment in Mexico in order to provide greater opportunities for the country’s young scientific talent.

“We can’t allow ourselves the luxury of exporting our brains, they have to stay here in Mexico . . . .”

Source: Milenio (sp)