In Return, Kazakhstan Orders Two EADS Astrium Satellites

Providing yet another example of the globalization and rising competition in the space industry, Astrium, a unit of the European Aeronautic and Space Co. (EADS), will help Kazakhstan in setting up a satellite integration center, the company announced.

Further, the deal involves training Kazakh engineers.

In return, Kazakhstan will buy two satellites from Astrium.

These are the details:

Astrium will set up a joint venture with its partner JSC National Company, Kazakhstan Gharysh Sapary, to operate a satellite integration center that it will build in Astana.

A major training program for Kazakh engineers is included in the agreement.

Astrium CEO Francois Auque and Gavyllatyp T. Murzakulov, CEO Kazakhstan Gharysh Sapary, a company reporting to the National Space Agency of the Republic of Kazakhstan, signed the deal.

It is a technological and strategic partnership agreement that will allow Astrium to play an active role in developing Kazakhstan’s space industry.

Within the framework of the agreement, Astrium will build a major satellite integration center that will be part of the future Kazakhstan national space center planned for the country’s new capital, Astana.

A joint venture between Astrium and Kazakhstan Gharysh Sapary will run the integration center.

Astrium also will provide Kazakhstan with two Earth observation satellites, as well as receiving stations for the Spot and TerraSAR-X satellites.

The increasing use of satellite imagery is spurring the development of Kazakhstan’s satellite capabilities.

A major partnership is planned in this sector with Spot Image and Infoterra – the two companies developing the market for satellite imagery applications as part of Astrium Services. Kazakhstan already has chosen several applications for mapping, the environment, agriculture, and management of the country’s significant natural resources. The applications will be operational very shortly.

Astrium will train more than 100 Kazakh engineers in satellite integration and satellite imagery processing. The training will take place in Kazakhstan and at Astrium’s site in Toulouse, France.

Kazakhstan has been involved in spaceflight since the very beginning. In 1955, the USSR chose Baikonur as the launch site for the first satellite, the legendary Sputnik 1. Then in 1961 the world’s first astronaut, Yuri Gagarin, took off from Baikonur. Leased from Kazakhstan, Baikonur is still Russia’s foremost launch site. Talgat Musabayev was one of two Kazakhstan astronauts who worked for the USSR / Russia. He now leads the new National Space Agency of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Kazcosmos.