Space agency to build universal ground station in Azerbaijan
By Nazrin Gadimova
Azerbaijani space agency Azercosmos plans to build a universal ground station by the end of 2013, the Ministry of Communications and Information Technologies said.
The main purpose of constructing the ground station is to receive terrestrial images of infrastructure from different satellites (optical and radar) in real-time.
Receiving images from satellites and using the opportunities of the universal ground station will allow to achieve key goals, including monitoring of the borders, assessing marine pollution, as well as oil leaks, and monitoring of waste products of the oil and gas industry. It will also serve the purposes of weather forecasting, studying the environment and natural resources, obtaining information for mapping and urban planning, supporting disaster management efforts and addressing emergencies, support for agriculture, etc.
In addition, as a result of talks with providers of satellite images Azercosmos JSC began delivery of optical and radar images taken via satellites to relevant government agencies this year.
Moreover, the low-orbit satellite for observing the Earth's surface is to be launched in 2015.
Azercosmos has successfully passed the audit on quality management to meet the requirements of ISO 9001:2008 and has received an international certificate of quality from the Bureau Veritas organization.