The first phase of the Brazilian Graviton Project is the construction and operation of the gravitational wave detector Mario Schenberg at the Physics Institute of the University of São Paulo. This gravitational wave spherical antenna is planned to feature a sensitivity better than h = 10-21 Hz-1/2 at the 3.0-3.4 kHz bandwidth, and to work not only as a detector, but also as a testbed for the development of new technologies. Here we present the status of this detector.