Launch of Azerbaijan's satellite postponed
By Rashid Shirinov
The launch of Azerbaijan’s second geostationary satellite Azerspace-2 / Intelsat 38 is scheduled for autumn 2018, reads the list of space launches published by Arianespace company.
Besides the Azerbaijani satellite, the carrier rocket Ariane 5 ECA will at the same time launch into orbit the Indian communications satellite GSAT-11. The satellites will be delivered to the orbit from the Kourou spaceport (Guiana Space Centre) in French Guiana, North-East of South America.
The launch was previously scheduled for May 25, but due to technical check-ups of the GSAT-11 satellite, conducted by the Indian space research organization, the timing of the launch of the carrier rocket was postponed for the summer.
However, the latest data by Arianespace says that the launch of the Azerbaijani and Indian satellites is scheduled for the first week of September this year.
The second telecommunications satellite of Azerbaijan will be placed in a geostationary orbit 45 degrees east longitude and its service area will cover the countries of Europe, Central and South Asia, the Middle East and Africa.
Azerspace-1, the nation’s first satellite, was launched into orbit on February 8, 2013. At present, its service area includes countries of Europe, the Caucasus, Central Asia, the Middle East and Africa. The Azerbaijani satellite provides a variety of services, such as digital television, data transmission, VSAT multi-service networks, and governmental communications. The total cost of the Azerspace-1 project was $230 million.
In December 2014, Azercosmos took over the rights to operate and commercialize Azersky, high resolution (1.5 meter imagery products) optical Earth observation satellite, and entered into the commercial business of Earth observation services, including geo-information services. Azerbaijan’s revenue from the operation of Azersky is expected to exceed $200 million within the next decade.
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Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov
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