Azerbaijan invests about $412M in satellite projects

About 700 million manats ($411.8 million) have been invested in three satellite projects of Azerbaijan, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Azercosmos, Samaddin Asadov, said during the discussion of the draft Law 'On Space Activity' at the meeting of the Milli Majlis (parliament) Committee for Economic Policy, Industries and Enterprising, Report informs.

According to him, 85% of this cost was formed due to loans attracted from international banks:

"When the Azerspace 1 satellite was put into orbit, its duration was supposed to be 15 years. If you use fuel sparingly, you can slightly increase the duration of the satellite. We have increased the useful life of this satellite to approximately 16 years and 9 months. If we use it a little more sparingly, we will extend this period to 17 years. In 2018, the term of the Azerspace 2 satellite was planned to be 20 years. This satellite will work until 2038. In the near future, our foreign exchange earnings will exceed 1-1.5 billion manats ($588-882 million)."

The head of Azercosmos noted that the number of satellites in Azerbaijan is constantly increasing: "In this direction, there may be certain limits at the regulatory level only by legislation, there is no practical limit on how many satellites can be launched. The launch of satellites is regulated at the international level by the International Communication Union."