Azerbaijan, Baku, 16 March / Trend , G.Veliyev/
Most of the work to create Azerbaijan's telecommunications satellite Azercpace has been completed and soon it is expected to sign the main contract with the producer, the Minister of Communications and Information Technologies of Azerbaijan Ali Abbasov said on March 16.
According to the minister, the government pays close attention to this project. In the near future it is also expected to define the carrier-rocket to take the satellite to orbit. After signing the main contract, a contract will be signed for renting an orbital position with an insurance company. The launch is scheduled for June 2012, Abbasov said.
Orbital Sciences Corp. is a winner of the tender on creation of Azerspace satellite.
The satellite will have transmission for TV and radio broadcasting and Internet. The satellite will cover the countries of European and significant part of Asian continents.
Cost of the satellite will hit 163 million manat, the ministry said.
Construction of the satellite will cost 87 million manat, 40 million manat will be spent to orbit the satellite. The satellite control center will cost 16 million manat but the rest 18 million manat will be spent on full insurance of new satellite.
According to preliminary information, the satellite will be launched into orbit from Baikonur Cosmodrome.
Term of exploitation of the satellite will be 15 years, payback period - about five years. Azerbaijan intends to use about 25 percent of resources of the satellite, the rest part will be offered to operators in other countries.
At present, the International Telecommunication Union has given Azerbaijan two positions on a geostationary orbit for local use and one position for international use.
The launch of its own satellite on orbit will be Azerbaijan's first action in realizing prospective projects to turn itself into a country with a space industry.
Existence of a national satellite will enable Azerbaijan to establish high-quality and reliable communications, television, as well as increase the number of channels.
Do you have any feedback? Contact our journalist at:[email protected]