High-precision satellite navigation system to be launched in Kazakhstan in 2013
Summing up the results of the last five years, Mussabayev noted Kazakhstan has managed to achieve great results in space exploration. The country created its own infrastructure and is currently carrying out consistent public policy in this area. Kazakhstan also launched the "KazSat-2" spacecraft, which has been successfully operating in the orbit for a year now, the Kazakh MFA's press service said.
Today the implementation of several large-scale projects is underway, including the creation of a group of remote sensing crafts, a wide ground-based infrastructure, and the construction of a spacecraft testing system in Astana.
According to Mussabayev, today Kazakhstan is making its history. The countries with great potential in space exploration started developing in this direction 60 years ago. "Kazakhstan had to start from scratch," Musabayev said. "But even without our own space industry, we are involved in several major projects. Currently Kazakhstan is negotiating with Russia and Ukraine on a joint project of a rocket and space complex "Zenith". One of the best complexes in the world, which is environmentally friendly and works on environmentally-friendly fuel components - kerosene and oxygen," he stressed.
The Head of National Space Agency also said there are ideas on creating a light launching vehicle in Kazakhstan, and feasibility studies are currently being prepared.
Another major initiative of the national space industry is the creation of a high-precision satellite navigation system. "Kazakhstan Gharysh Sapary" National Company has been working on the project over the past four years. The companies in Almaty and Astana have been established to produce navigation devices.
"We will be able to accurately determine the location of cars, planes and trains. We intend to launch the first 60 differential stations by late 2013 - early 2014," Mussabayev said.
Earlier the president of "Kazakhstan Gharysh Sapary" Gabdullatif Myrzakulov reported that the work on the navigation system based on GPS/GLONASS signals was underway in Kazakhstan since 2011. In his words, the estimated cost of the project amounts to KZT 1,223 billion.
The differential regional stations will be able to issue correcting and controlling data on locations for satellite navigation receivers using the U.S. GPS signals, as well as the Russian GLONASS signals. The users of the navigation system will include government agencies, national companies, private companies, and private users.
The system can be widely used in the preparation of land registries, mapping, scheduling transportation vehicles of all kinds, geodynamics studies, monitoring spatially extended objects, construction and monitoring the condition of roads, tunnels and bridges and many other areas, Myrzakulov noted.
Currently Kazakhstan is working with Russia on the creation of regional network of stations for differential correction for using the signals of the Russian GLONASS and the American GPS.
Another project is the creation of a joint venture with Russia - a rocket and space complex "Baiterek"at Baikonur.
The "Baiterek" project was initiated in January 2004, when the Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev signed an agreement on cooperation regarding the efficient use of Baikonur complex. The heads of states signed an agreement on the establishment of a rocket and space complex "Baiterek", designed to launch rockets of "Angara" class, on December 22, 2004. The completion of the "Baiterek" construction is scheduled for 2017.
Apart from that, according to Mussabayev, Kazakhstan's participation in the "Kosmotras" project has paid off. The joint venture of Kazakhstan, Ukraine and Russia has been engaged in creating and exploiting the "Dnepr" rocket system for 13 years. With the help of "Dnepr" small satellites are placed into orbit. A total of 17 rockets, which put over 60 space vehicles into orbit, have been launched so far. Kazakhstan now owns one tenth of all the shares of "Kosmotras" and is ready to increase its share in the company to 33 percent.
"If in the near future the heads of government of Ukraine, Russia and Kazakhstan decide to continue this programme, we will probably get an equal share in the company," Talgat Musabayev said.