Joint press conference on the first Armenian satellite ARMSAT_1

On November 18, a joint press conference of the RA Ministry of High-Tech Industry and the SATLANTIS company was held, during which details were presented about the works of the first Armenian satellite ARMSAT_1.

The speakers at the press conference were the RA Minister of High-Tech Industry Robert Khachatryan, Deputy Minister Avet Poghosyan, CEO of SATLANTIS Juan Thomas Hernani, Armenian Project Manager at SATLANTIS Javier Ojanguren, astrophysicist Garik Israelian.

Minister Robert Khachatryan presented the works carried out over the past 6 months, touched upon the testing, adjustment and operational work of the satellite.

“At the moment, we can state that these works have already been successfully completed. All subsystems of the satellite have been tested, there are positive results and the satellite is completely ready for operation. Now we are working on the construction of the control center. Most of the equipment has already been imported. In the near future, a working group will arrive in Armenia to deal with the installation work. The control center will give us the opportunity to fully manage the satellite from Armenia with the help of our specialists. Relevant specialists are already undergoing retraining,” the Minister said.

Robert Khachatryan also stressed that the main goal of the project, which received the support of the RA government, is to develop the capabilities of space technologies in Armenia. According to the Minister, there is already quite a lot of interest: more than 10 Armenian companies, each in its own field, have expressed their readiness to take part in this process. In addition, it is planned to develop satellite construction in Armenia, as it is a versatile field and will give a boost to the progress of other related industries.

Juan Thomas Hernani, CEO of SATLANTIS thanked the Minister for the invitation, after which he presented several important provisions regarding the management of the satellite, including the fact that Armenia will manage the satellite on its own, performing 2 important functions: downloading data and allowing it to be used by the state. He emphasized that the implemented technology also has operational significance, since the downloaded data can be used in various areas.

Javier Ojanguren, Armenian Project Manager at SATLANTIS, spoke in detail about the project, the activities of the satellite already implemented, the possibilities of its operation and management, as well as the control center.

Astrophysicist Garik Israelyan spoke about the connection between science and technology and informed about the Arakhis project, which will be implemented by SATLANTIS in the near future.

“This is one of the largest projects by the European Space Agency in 2022, worth more than 200 million euros, which will enable deep imaging of 100 galaxies. We really want scientists from Armenia, especially in the theoretical field, to participate in this project,” said Garik Israelian.

Deputy Minister Avet Poghosyan also said that Armenia’s space programs are of an exclusively peaceful nature and the photographs received from the satellite are used for peaceful purposes, including security monitoring.

Then the journalists asked the audience questions related to the practical significance of the satellite, the timing of the launch of the Control Center, the use of data, the construction of the satellite and a number of other topics.