Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 15
By Huseyn Valiyev - Trend:
The work on establishing Azerbaijan's second telecommunication satellite Azerspace-2 has already begun, Iltimas Mammadov, deputy minister of communications and high technologies, told Trend.
About 20 percent of the construction work has been completed by the satellite's manufacturer, he said.
The work on the satellite's launch, which is planned for 2017, continues according to schedule, noted Mammadov.
Satellite's design will be based on the 1300 series satellite platform (SS/L 1300), which is used for creation of medium and heavy geostationary telecommunications satellites and satellites in highly elliptical orbits (HEO).
A highly elliptical orbit (HEO) is an elliptic orbit with a low-altitude (often under 1,000 kilometers (540 nmi)) perigee and a high-altitude (often over 35,786 kilometers (19,323 nmi)) apogee. The "highly elliptical" term refers to the shape of the ellipse, and to the eccentricity of the orbit, not to the high apogee altitude.
The second satellite program will be financed by a long-term and concessional credit line of the Export Development Canada (EDC). The satellite will be put into orbit in 2017.
The satellite will be located at the 45 degrees east orbital location leased by the Azerbaijani side from the International Telecommunications Satellite Organization Intelsat which is the leaseholder of 45.9 percent of the satellite's resources. The service area of Azerspace-2 will cover Europe, South-East Asia, Middle East and Africa.
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