2024-04-04 06:46:04
In April of last year, the Space Agency of the Republic of Azerbaijan (Azerkosmos) announced that the Azersky satellite had completed its mission. The satellite, which was supposed to be used for 10 years, ended its operation a year early. The reason for this was the stop of information exchange with the satellite. Azerkosmos statement stated that it could have been caused by a collision with space debris or a meteorite.
Until the mentioned incident, Azerbaijan had three satellites in orbit. Two of them – “Azerspace-1” and “Azerspace-2” are telecommunication satellites. They were launched into orbit in 2013 and 2018, respectively. Now, local and international level and a total of about 100 television and radio channels are broadcasted by these satellites, in addition, internet services are also provided. The “Azersky” satellite, which failed prematurely, is a remote Earth observation satellite. This satellite was put into orbit in 2014. Thanks to the “Azersky” satellite, Azerbaijan had direct, unconditional access to high-resolution satellite images of any point in the world. The services of “Azersky” satellite were used in defense and security, agriculture, ecology and environment, mapping, infrastructure planning and monitoring, updating of cadastral data, research of oil pollution at sea and on land, and other fields.
Revenues decreased by $7 million
From the figures shown in the “Export Review” report of the Center for Analysis and Communication of Economic Reforms, it is understood that the suspension of the “Azersky” satellite reduced the income of “Azerkosmos”. Last year, “Azerkosmos” earned $19.8 million from the export of telecommunication services. In 2022, the income of the institution was 26.6 million dollars. So, in 2023, “Azerkosmos” earned 6.8 million dollars or 26 percent less income than in 2022.
Freedom radio