Matt Tirman, Director of commercial relations of “Satellogic”, the American company contracted by the Albanian government for the 2 satellites in space, has given an exclusive interview with Euronews Albania.

He talked about who financed the satellites, what function the satellites will perform and how much they will help Albania.

Full interview:

Question: The Albanian government has single-handedly financed the construction and sending into space of two satellites, right?

Matt Tirman: Yes, the Albanian government had an important role in the launch of the two satellites. It has funded the acquisition of data and images, not just the construction.

Question: What does the term “has primary access” mean in the contract?

Matt Tirman: This term means that the Albanian government has the sole authority to receive images of the Albanian territory, but also beyond 25 km away from the Albanian borders, which means that no other satellite of ours will have access to receive images of Albania.

Question: How does the service offered by the satellite differ from that offered by “google earth” or other similar services?

Matt Tirman: That’s a very good question. Google Earth and Google Maps are great but the images they provide may be old, may be 6 months ago. The benefit that the Albanians will receive is the remapping of the entire Albanian territory up to 4 times a year. The government will have control of these satellites. If there is a natural disaster, the government does not have to wait for Google Earth to update the images of Albania, so in this sense, there are many benefits.

Question: What study has the company done that comes to the conclusion that Albania benefits from this agreement? How is benefit planning done and what exactly is benefited?

Matt Tirman: We worked very early on to carry out a study regarding what we could do in the Albanian territory. Albania has a history of mapping, which is done more for mapping areas, images are taken from airplanes, which is very expensive and does not give an overall picture of the whole country. We are able to reduce the cost. Albania will also have at its disposal 30 satellites where it can receive data related to other aspects such as the environment and agriculture. These satellites will be available to Albania for internal use.

Question: How long does the satellite take to make a map of Albania?

Matt Tirman: We can remap the entire space of Albania in 60 days. Then we send these images to the Albanian government in an updated map. Another benefit concerns the Civil Defense Agency, which will use these images for its needs.

Question: So the satellites will monitor Albania 24 hours a day?

Matt Tirman: Not necessarily 24 hours a day. With the 2 satellites, we can get images every day and with the complementary satellites, we will get other images of the whole territory. Observing Albania every minute of the day is still not a reality. We hope that after 5 years, our company will be able to do this. What the Albanian government will benefit from is a number of images that have not been benefited from before.

Question: You said that after 5 years we will enable monitoring in 24 hours, are you saying that the contract with the Albanian government will continue even after 3 years?

Matt Tirman: Our company will constantly expand, our goal is to remap the entire world every day. The agreement we have signed with Albania will last 3 years, but of course, we wish it to continue beyond the 3 years foreseen.

Question: In how many minutes can the satellite of Albania take pictures?

Matt Tirman: Every 6 hours we will be able to receive images of the Albanian territory.

Question: Are the Albanian staff being trained and how long is their training expected to take?

Matt Tirman: Yes, they are being trained. We have trained some of the Albanian team. They have learned things related to artificial intelligence, with the data that is provided. This training was carried out in December.

Question: How many people have been trained so far?

Matt Tirman: 20 officials have been trained so far.

Q: How long does their training take?

Matt Tirman: It depends, this initial training took two weeks. We aim to teach them to work with our equipment and expand their knowledge.

Question: Were the trained officials from the Ministry of Defense?

Matt Tirman: There have been Home Office and State Geospatial Information Authority officials.

Q: When is it expected that the staff will start work and have the first results of their work?

Matt Tirman: Work has already begun. We have given you access to satellites and at the end of 3 months I believe they will share with you fantastic results. Our team is working with the staff and the Albanian government. Next week we will meet with the Albanian government and make sure that they have made progress.

Question: We will have the first results in March?

Matt Tirman: I wish Yes, because we will send you data continuously, but we have to confirm it with the Albanian government. They will share this data with you as soon as it is ready.

Question: Prime Minister Rama spoke with superlatives about the satellites, he said that the satellites will serve very well in the fight against corruption. How will they help at this point?

Matt Tirman: Another benefit related to satellites has to do with the fight against corruption, against property crime. They can photograph all illegal constructions in the country, and identify where there are violations related to the payment of taxes. Satellites have been used to monitor borders, where trafficking crimes have been targeted.

Question: How much did the 3-year contract with the Albanian government cost?

Matt Tirman: The total price for the 3-year contract that we concluded with the Albanian government cost about 6 million dollars.