The Albania 1 satellite, introduced with great fanfare by the government as part of a satellite surveillance project to combat illegal construction, cannabis cultivation and fires, burned up in the atmosphere on January 29, 2026. The news was made public by technology expert Besmir Semanaj, who has raised strong questions about the transparency and accountability of the project.
According to him, the fall of a satellite is not a technological drama, as these devices have a limited cycle in orbit. But the main problem is related to the lack of transparency for a project that was presented as a strategic investment and that is suspected to have cost millions of euros of public money.
Semanaj emphasizes that to date there is no clear figure for the real cost of the Albania 1 and Albania 2 satellite projects, while only a figure of around $6 million has been mentioned in public. There is also a lack of concrete reports on the results: how many unauthorized constructions have been discovered, how many cannabis plots have been identified, and how many fire cases have been monitored thanks to these satellites.
The expert raises another question: why is there no official confirmation from the government that Albania 1 is no longer in orbit.
According to him, the main problem is not the satellite's fall, but the lack of transparency and accountability for the use of public money. "A satellite can burn up in the atmosphere, but public money cannot," Semanaj emphasizes.
The debate over the satellite project brings back to attention the main question: how much has this investment really cost and what concrete benefits has the Albanian state received from it.
