The first private Russian space satellite is set to launch in February and will leverage commonly used "cloud computing" and mobile phone technology to generate potentially huge profits for its investors.
"In 2015, we are anticipating a certain percentage of revenue coming from the cloud platform," Ilya Golubovich, a venture capitalist whose firm has invested $20 million in the satellite's manufacturer Dauria, told The Wall Street Journal.
Golubovich said he expected the satellite would generate "hundreds of millions" of dollars in revenue in 2015.
Dauria's DX-1 satellite is approximately the size of a desktop printer and uses the same flash memory technology found in smartphones.
The company plans to gather data about the earth collected by microsatellites and charge users to access the information that it aggregates on a cloud network of computing systems, the Journal reported.
The satellites, which have been developed in partnership with Korean electronics titan Samsung and the Russian Federal Space Agency, cost between $3 and $5 million each, and due to their light weight are cheaper to launch than conventional satellites.
Founded in 2011, Dauria, which is headquartered in Munich, is part of the space cluster at the Skolkovo innovation center on the outskirts of Moscow.
It is Russia's first private space firm and has already signed contracts with NASA and entered into partnerships with aerospace giants Boeing and Airbus.
