FINAL REPORT: DEFINITIONAL MISSION TO AZERBAIJAN:
AZERCOSMOS – AZERSPACE-2 FEASIBILITY STUDY
August 07, 2013
Space Partnership International
24
Image: Location of Azercosmos Ground Station
Images of Primary Satellite Ground Station: Outside of Baku
View of
Entrance
View of RF Building and Antenna Farm
View of Main Control Center
View of
Telco Room and RF Racks
FINAL REPORT: DEFINITIONAL MISSION TO AZERBAIJAN:
AZERCOSMOS – AZERSPACE-2 FEASIBILITY STUDY
August 07, 2013
Space Partnership International
25
Training
During of visit, Contractor interviewed the responsible managers at Azercosmos to identify current
training programs designed to support the business and operations of the two satellites and plans for
new programs to augment existing Azercosmos capacity.
Contractor confirmed that Azercosmos management is well on its way to meeting its first-year
training requirements and goals, which included training curriculum for ground engineering,
advanced space technology, maintenance, satellite operations, telecommunications, and customer
support. Training was provided to the Azercosmos team in two phases:
Phase 1: Azerspace-1 Pre-Launch Training
Prior to the launch of Azerspace-1, the management of Azercosmos worked closely with their primary
partner (MEASAT) and satellite manufacturer (Orbital Sciences) to develop a targeted training curriculum
and course plan, which was developed by expert engineers and satellite operators.
MEASAT and Orbital Sciences provided over 90 days of comprehensive modeling, proprietary
technology training, and knowledge transfer to the Azercosmos team.
The focus was to build in-country operational expertise and to help trainees overcome knowledge gaps in
technical engineering, platform monitoring and control, operations and logistics, customer service,
systems integration, and resource management.
Phase 2: Post-Launch Training
Additionally, the new Azercosmos operational and sales teams received training at various local and
foreign educational institutions, and continue to participate in training courses to increase their technical
capacity.
Since the launch of Azerspace-1 in February 2013, Azercosmos has continued to provide onsite training
to new employees. Managed by the Head of Human Resources, and coordinated by the organization’s
CTO along with four onsite engineers provided by MEASAT, the training program provides advanced
classes in satellite operations, including flight dynamics and orbital control, satellite operations,
telecommunications, advanced troubleshooting, maintenance, facilities management, and customer
service. To date, training was delivered to 97 employees currently supporting Azerspace-1. Training will
continue to support 50 additional employees over the next two years.
View of Training / Meeting Room
FINAL REPORT: DEFINITIONAL MISSION TO AZERBAIJAN:
AZERCOSMOS – AZERSPACE-2 FEASIBILITY STUDY
August 07, 2013
Space Partnership International
26
Sales Support and Customer Support Training
Technical training has also been provided for the new sales and marketing teams, albeit at a less
advanced level. Training included sales and customer communications skills transfer for
salespeople, sales engineers, and customer support/help desk engineers. Additional training
materials are being developed to support the Azercosmos financial and legal departments.
Description of Previous Commitments
Azercosmos has demonstrated its ability to successfully design, implement, finance, launch, test,
and operate its first satellite program. The company received major financial commitments from the
following:
Sources of Financing
15
US$ (in millions)
U.S. Exim Debt
116
Coface Financing
90
Azerbaijan Government Financing
76
List: Financial commitments: Azerspace 1 Mission
Work with U.S. Companies
By 2011, 7 of the top 20 American ICT companies were operating in Azerbaijan. These companies
included Microsoft, HP, IBM, Apple, Intel, Oracle, and Google.
Examples of U.S. involvement during the Azerspace-1 mission included:
Orbital Sciences designed, built, and tested the Azerspace-1 satellite for Azercosmos.
o
Orbital worked with the Azercosmos engineering team during the satellite design and
manufacturing phases, conducted in-orbit testing to verify all subsystems were operating as
planned, and provided training to Azercosmos employees.
The contract signified an important commercial relationship between U.S. industry, the Ministry of
Communications and Information Technologies
of the Republic of Azerbaijan, and the U.S. Export-
Import Bank.
The contract provided sustained jobs for hundreds of Americans who worked to put this satellite in
space.
The Global Information Technology Report published in 2010-2011 by the World Economic
Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland rated Azerbaijan 69th of 139 countries in foreign direct
investment (FDI) and technology transfer. This result placed Azerbaijan into the leading position
for the Caucuses region.
Overall Responsiveness During the Definitional Mission
Contractor traveled to Azerbaijan for a one-week period (April 27 – May 3, 2013) and conducted
interviews with representatives of the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology
and Azercosmos. Generally, Contractor found the participants in the interviews to be very
15
Azercosmos:
Summary of Business Plan