Baku, Azerbaijan, March 9
By Huseyn Veliyev - Trend:
The launch of the second telecommunication satellite of Azerbaijan, Azerspace-2, will cost the country $30 million less, according to the report on the activities of the cabinet of ministers of Azerbaijan for 2015.
The report is expected to be discussed in the parliament (Milli Majlis) of the country March 15.
The contract for the launch of the satellite signed between Azercosmos JSC and the French company Arianespace in early December 2015 is $63 million. The launch of Azerspace-1, the first satellite of Azerbaijan, cost the country $93 million.
Arianespace company has won Azercosmos's tender to put the second telecommunication satellite into orbit.
The Azerbaijani first satellite was also put into orbit by Arianespace company.
Azerspace/Africasat-1a was launched into the orbit from the ELA-3 launch complex of the Guiana Space Centre on February 8, 2013 on the Ariane 5 ECA carrier rocket of the French company, Arianespace. The second 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.
A subsidiary of Canadian MDA corporation - Space Systems Loral (SSL) will construct the Azerbaijani second telecommunication satellite and supply the equipment for the ground control station.
Geostationary satellite will be equipped with transponders of Ku- and Ka-band. Azerspace-2 is designed to provide digital broadcasting, Internet access, data transmission, creation of VSAT multiservice networks, and so on.
