Azerbaijan's revenues from commercial exploitation of satellites reach $91 million
By Rashid Shirinov
The total income of Azercosmos OJSC from commercial exploitation of Azerspace-1 and Azersky satellites reached $91 million, the company informed on February 7.
The revenue from the first satellite of Azerbaijan Azerspace-1 since its launch into orbit is $72 million, and from Azersky satellite – $19 million.
The launch of Azerspace-1 satellite was carried out on February 8, 2013. At present, its service area includes countries of Europe, the Caucasus, Central Asia, the Middle East and Africa.
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. Income of Azerbaijan from the operation of Azersky is expected to exceed $200 million within the next decade.
In addition, Azercosmos plans to launch the new satellite Azerspace-2 in the first half of 2018. The satellite 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.
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Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov
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