Azerbaijan Satellite Operator Azercosmos announced it is partnering with Satelliteherd, a high-tech company and one of the leaders of the commercial space industry in China.
Under the long-term agreement, Satelliteherd has installed a 4.2 metre antenna at Azercosmos’ Ground Station (AGS), located in the Absheron peninsula.
This antenna will enable Satelliteherd in monitoring satellite health, as well as processing data transmitted, and controlling telemetry between satellites and satellite networks operating in space.
With extensive experience in space engineering, Satelliteherd will provide a number of reliable and modern TT&C (Telemetry, Tracking and Command) services for receiving accurate signals from satellites thanks to the antenna installed in Azercosmos’ Ground Station.
"In spite of the great geographical distance between China and Azerbaijan, this is a major achievement and I strongly believe that Satelliteherd’s open strategy will provide Azercosmos with the ability to look to the entire satellite market for further innovation and solutions," said Mark Guthrie, Chief Commercial Officer at Azercosmos.
"The unique and precise position of Azercosmos' Ground Satellite Station will allow us to provide high performance services that will increase our service for commercial satellites capability in this year and beyond," added Licheng Yang, Vice President of International Business at Satelliteherd.
Azercosmos is the premier satellite operator in the South Caucasus. Azerspace-1, the telecommunication satellite operated by Azercosmos, provides highly-reliable broadband and broadcast solutions to its customers in Europe, Africa, Middle East, the Caucasus, and Central Asia. The satellite was launched in February 2013 and is equipped with 24 C-band transponders and 12 Ku-band transponders and is located at 46° East longitude. In December 2014, Azercosmos took over the rights to operate and commercialize Azersky, a high resolution (1.5m imagery products) optical Earth observation satellite and entered into the commercial business of Earth observation services, including Geo-Information services. The strategic development plans of the company included enhancing the coverage area and spectrum of satellite services. For this purpose, in 2018, Azercosmos launched its second telecommunications satellite Azerspace-2 in a geostationary orbit 45° East longitude.