Kazakhstan

The Joint Stock Company "National Center for Space Research and Technology" (NCSRT) of Kazakhstan is the leading institution in space-related activities. The main objective of the Center is to carry out scientific research, and steer production and economic activities in space research and technology. It encourages the use of space technologies in applications related to ife sciences, monitoring and forecasting of space weather, remote sensing of natural and man-made processes, geoinformational modeling of natural territorial complexes, ecosystems, and natural and man-made processes.  The Center uses  space technologies for monitoring and remote sensing in the fields of ecology, agriculture, geology, cartography, land use, water management, and other territorial processes.

In May 2021, NCSRT and the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs signed a Memorandum of Understanding to incorporate NCSRT as a UN-SPIDER Regional Support…

Using space-based information, the Centre for Space Science and Technology Education in Asia and the Pacific (CSSTEAP) affiliated to the United Nations has analysed the recent failure of a dam around the Sardoba Reservoir in Uzbekistan. Following a week of heavy rain in the region, the wall of the dam broke on 1 May and flooded surroundings in Uzbekistan as well as Kazakhstan to the north. According to media reports, the breach led to the evacuation of thousands of people in the area. 

The analysis carried out by CSSTEAP makes use of MODIS multi-temporal satellite images to identify the maximum spread of the floods, which was observed on 2 May. Waters receded in the following days, although they are still visibile along the border between the two countries on imagery from 12 May.

With the help of Landsat 8 and…

An group of experts from the Russian Federation and the Republic of Kazakhstan are meeting in Astana, Kazakhstan, to agree on the creation of joint system for space monitoring and disaster forecasting. The meeting is part of the Plan of Joint Actions of the Russian Federation and the Republic of Kazakhstan for 2013-2015.

According to the Russian Deputy Director of Civil Defense Department, Alexander Rvachev, Russia is reinforcing the space team of the Russian Emergencies Ministry EMERCOM while the space team of Kazakhstan is being formed. When all the satellites will be in service, both countries will have a single monitoring and forecasting system.

The agreement will reinforce the current cooperation on disaster management between Russia and Kazakhstan. Last spring, the President of Kazakhstan signed a law on simplified procedure for crossing the border between Russia and Kazakhstan in the case of emergencies. As stated by Rvachev, the information that the Russian…

On 8 July, 2014 Skybox launched the SkySat-2 Earth Observation Satellite from Baikonur in Kazakhstan on board a Soyuz-2 Fregat rocket. The launch of SkySat-2 follows as part of Skybox’s plan to create a 24 satellite constellation collecting high-resolution Earth imagery.  

As UN-SPIDER had reported previously, Google recently announced plans to acquire Skybox for $500 million. 

Kazakhstan successfully launched its second Earth Observation Satellite KazEOSat-2 on 20 June 2014 from Yasni launch base, Russia.

KazEOSat-2, with 6.5 meters spatial resolution, is expected to provide full remote sensing data such as imagery of the Kazakh territory, including monitoring and prevention of disasters as well as defense and security mapping of the country.

Kazakhstan's Earth remote sensing space system consists now of two spacecrafts. The first Kazakh Earth observation satellite KazEOSat-1 was launched on 30 April 2014. In addition, the Kazakh remote sensing system also has ground complex for reception, processing and distribution of satellite data.

KazEOSat-2 was produced by the British technology company Surrey Satellite Technology, which is part of the French Airbus Defense and Space.

On 29 April 2014, Kazakhstan's first Earth Observation satellite, KazEOSat-1, was launched with the third Vega launcher from the Guiana Space Center. In a press release launch services operator Arianespace stated: "KazEOSat-1 (DZZ-HR) is a high-resolution optical observation satellite that weighed 830 kg at launch. It will provide Kazakhstan with a wide range of civilian applications, including monitoring of natural and agricultural resources, mapping data and support for search & rescue operations during natural disasters."

Arianespace Chairman and CEO, Stéphane Israël, said: "I would like to congratulate and thank the Kazakhstan space agency, KazCosmos, whose ambitious space program makes a huge step forward today with the launch of the country's first Earth observation satellite."

On 8 December 2013, the Inmarsat-5F1 (I-5 F1) telecommunications satellite of the British Inmarsat global mobile operator was launched from Baikonur in Kazakhstan at 12:12 GMT by the International Launch Services (ILS) Proton-M main booster. The Inmarsat-5F1 was launched according to the already tested method of orbiting the satellite: In a first stage the rocket Proton-M put the upper stage rocket Breeze-M onto a suborbital trajectory carrying the telecommunications satellite. The Breeze-M upper stage carries the Inmarsat-5F1 to the designated orbit, where the satellite shifts to its geostationary orbit by means of its engine to assume it's position, and detaches then from the upper stage rocket around 15 and a half hours after the launch.

The British telecommunications satellite Inmarsat-5F1 was manufactured by the U.S. company Boeing Satellite Systems for the British satellite communications operator Inmarsat Plc. I-5 F1 is the first of three Inmarsat next-generation…

The second Metop satellite was launched yesterday, 17 September 2012 from the Baikonur cosmodrome, in Kazakhstan, atop a Russian Soyuz launcher, as planned. Metop-B will ensure the continuity of the weather and atmospheric monitoring service provided by its predecessor Metop-A, which has been circling the globe from pole to pole, 14 times a day, since 2006 and has now exceeded its design lifetime. The Soyuz-Fregat vehicle lifted off at 16:28 GMT on Monday, 17 September. The Fregat upper stage manoeuvred to release the satellite into a polar orbit at an altitude of 810 km some 69 minutes later, over the Kerguelen Archipelago, in the Indian Ocean. Metop-B, developed for EUMETSAT’s polar satellite system, is now under the control of ESA’s Operations Centre in Darmstadt, Germany.

ESA’s Director General Jean-Jacques Dordain states “This is a…

PARIS — Space hardware and services supplier Astrium, furthering its partnership with the government of Kazakhstan, will build and launch two Earth observation satellites, and provide a satellite integration and test center in Kazakhstan, in a contract valued at 230 million euros ($336 million) and concluded Oct. 6 during a state visit to Kazakhstan by French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Astrium announced.

The contract was signed Oct. 6 in the Kazakh capital of Astana by Francois Auque, president of Astrium; and by Gavyllatyp T. Murzakulov, president of JSC Kazakhstan Gharysh Sapery, a state-owned company affiliated with the Kazakh space agency.
“This new space system will provide the Republic of Kazakhstan with a wide range of civil applications, including surveillance of natural resources and agriculture, mapping and support for natural-disaster response,” Auque said in a statement following the contract signature. (Source: SPACE NEWS)

…