Bermuda could eventually have has many as four satellites operating out of its orbital slot 24,000 miles up in space, according to Economic Minister Grant Gibbons.Dr Gibbons was unable to say exactly how much revenue the prized piece of property will generate for Government, although the broadcast satellite industry is estimated to generate more that $80 billion globally each year.At a press conference yesterday, Dr Gibbons heralded the launch of the EchoStar 6 satellite into Bermuda’s orbital position as “the key step” to develop Bermuda’s space industry.Government has leased the slot to satellite operation company SES, which moved the EchoStar 6 satellite to its new home last month — just one day before Bermuda’s claim to the site expired.“While the current plans are to offer maritime services and broadcast services in the Caribbean and Latin America, a specialised, more powerful satellite could also be built to expand services from this orbital position,” Dr Gibbons said, adding that three more satellites could move to Bermuda’s patch of space property, which he described as “a sweet spot”.The satellite has to remain in space for 90 days before it can be used as “a commercially viable asset”, according to Dr Gibbons, who said that SES will pay Bermuda a percentage of its profits for renting out the slot.“This has been a long journey,” Dr Gibbons said.“Bermuda’s first footsteps into the space industry were pioneered back in 1983, when the late Dr John Stubbs attended a conference held by the United Nations International Telecommunications Union (ITU). Due to his vision and advocacy, the ITU allocated four satellite orbital slots to Bermuda. The satellite slot located at 96.2° West Longitude was identified as the most commercially viable.“Despite many prior years of frustration and considerable expense, this Government has now brought Bermuda’s satellite slot ‘into use’ and has plans for a satellite communication system as part of a wider effort to diversify the economy and develop Bermuda’s skills and economic base.“Under ITU rules there is a mandatory 90 day waiting period during which the satellite must demonstrate that it is operationally viable. This means, barring any unforeseen problems, that by mid-July, the satellite deployed at 96.2° WL will become a commercially viable asset — and Bermuda’s 96.2 WL slot allocation will be officially confirmed by the ITU.”Earlier in the House of Assembly, the Minister explained that licensing arrangements with SES still had to be finalised and therefore it was too early to make revenue predictions.It is not yet entirely clear what the revenue will be from the licensing of the 96.2 longitude slot,” Dr Gibbons said in response to questions from Opposition MP Glenn Blakeney.“Those are ongoing discussions right now with SES. They’ll be working with EchoStar and all I will say is that it would appear that most of these commercial arrangements work on a percentage of gross revenues from the sales from satellite use in a particular slot.“We are now currently underway with some of those discussions but those have not been finalised — in fact there is quite a bit more discussion to do.Dr Gibbons explained that, although EchoStar 6 currently has a shelf life of just one more year, the 13-year-old satellite could remain in operation until 2019.And he said that revenues from the slot could increase if newer, more powerful satellites move into the zone.“While the current plans are to offer maritime services and broadcast services in the Caribbean and Latin America, a specialised, more powerful satellite could also be built to expand services from this orbital position,” Dr Gibbons said.