Bulgaria to build national space data center

A national center that will use space-based data to monitor key processes will be built at Dobroslavtsi Airport in Bulgaria, Prime Minister Rumen Radev said, CE Report quotes AGERPRES.

"We will finally begin construction of what I have been promoting since 2020: a national center for observation, coordination, and management based on space data, allowing the Bulgarian state to coordinate important processes across various socio-economic sectors," Radev told journalists at the airport.

The site is also planned to host the Dobroslavtsi High-Tech Industrial Park and the Center for Space and Defense Development.

"A high-tech industrial park focused on space technologies, the defense industry, and the industries of the future will be built here," Radev said. "The project will boost the development of municipalities in the region," he added.

"The runway will retain its current function and will be repaired and expanded. It will also remain a training base for the National Protection Service," Radev said.

"What is happening here reflects the government's economic policy: investing in a knowledge-based economy and high-tech manufacturing," the prime minister said. He expressed hope that Bulgaria would move from being a country that "consumes technology" to one that creates it.

The success of the project, Radev added, will depend less on the volume of investment or the number of jobs created and more on its ability to develop and retain talent in Bulgaria.

"The project is extremely complex and large-scale. We are trying to create the largest European research and development center in the space sector, together with a center for developing defense and military systems," said Raicho Raichev, founder and CEO of EnduroSat.

"The first stage will take three years. We will fully restore the runway's operational capacity, create a large green area, and build the first section of the industrial park," Raichev added.

Raichev said the company's new generation of satellites has already demonstrated its capabilities and is approaching the size of a Boeing 737 in terms of operational requirements, making a large facility such as Dobroslavtsi Airport necessary.

"Our ambition is to carry out the entire assembly, testing, and certification process for our latest satellites here. We already have customers for them," he said.

The plan also includes a development and education center. Bulgaria already has a master's program in engineering and space technologies, and the goal is to bring its graduates together in a single campus, Raichev said.

Novi Iskar district mayor Vladislav Vladimirov said that implementing the project in the district, especially in the village of Dobroslavtsi, is a source of great pride.

The airport had been abandoned for too long, and the upcoming investment will stimulate the district's development by creating new jobs and bringing life back to a site that had been neglected for years, Vladimirov added.

Asked whether the protocol on suspending the contract with BOTAS would be made public, Radev replied:

"Ask the companies. Only they have the right to publish it if they decide to do so."

Bulgargaz and BOTAS signed the protocol on July 6 following talks between Radev and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. During the 15-month suspension period, Bulgargaz will pay only for the transport capacity it actually uses, under improved commercial conditions, while the two companies will attempt to renegotiate the agreement.

Photo: Wikipedia