Azerbaijan, Baku, Jan. 17 / Trend H.Valiyev /
The rocket carrier Ariane 5 ECA will bring into orbit two satellites, Head of the Azerbaijani communications and IT Ministry's Department for coordinating the activities of state enterprises Mirheydar Aliyev told Trend on Monday.
Ismayilov information about which country's satellite will be launched into orbit together with Azerspace will be publicized six months before the launch.
"The contract signed with Arianspace reflects an item, under which the manufacturer will inform the Azerbaijani side about which country's satellite will be on board Arianspace, along with the Azerbaijani Azerspace for six months before the start. Previously this would be announced in March-May 2012," Ismayilov added.
This will depend on what the orbital position the specified satellite will be located. The position of 46 degrees east longitude was defined for Azerspace. Another satellite, which will be launched into orbit aboard the Ariane 5 ECA, will probably be located at orbital positions 50-55 east longitude.
French company Arianspace has started to manufacture rocket carrier Ariane 5 ECA, which will launch the first Azerbaijani telecommunications satellite Azerspace into orbit.
The main advantage of the rocket carrier Ariane 5 ECA is its ability to deliver payload with weight of 10 tons into orbit. Unlike other rocket carriers, Ariane 5 ECA is able to launch into orbit two satellites at once, Chief Adviser of the Ministry's Telecommunication Department, Gulam Abdullayev told Trend earlier.
The Azerspace satellite, whose mass will be more than three tons, will be launched from Guiana Space Center, which is located in the northeast of South America in French Guiana. The cost of the launch will be $93 million.
Low weight of cargo to be delivered into orbit will allow the Azerbaijani side to save on insurance services of several million dollars.
Azerspace's manufacturer is American company Orbital Sciences Corporation. An orbital position for Azerspace has been leased from the Malaysian MEASAT satellite operator.
Azerspace is designed to provide digital broadcasting, Internet access, data transmission, VSAT multi-service networks, and governmental communications. Its service area will cover Europe, Central Asia and Africa.
The company, which will deal with the 100-percent insurance of the satellite, will be determined in the near future.
Works on the production of the satellite will be completed in September 2012. The launch is scheduled for the fourth quarter of 2012. Azerbaijan will start to provide services to the global space market from January 2013.
Today, the ministry plans to begin contract negotiations for the implementation of resource of Azerspace.