Nursultan Nazarbayev discussed in Moscow with Vladimir Putin the creation of Kazakhstan's second satellite KazSat 2 and asked to improve the reliability of the joint project. The talk was prompted by the failure of KazSat 1, which was lost in orbit due to a systems failure and caused tension between the two countries. Putin in turn stressed that cooperation in space would benefit both Russia and the development of Kazakhstan's space industry.
Work continues on creating a second satellite for Kazakhstan, and in this connection, Kazakhstan’s President Nursultan Nazarbayev met yesterday in Moscow with Vladimir Putin. At the meeting, he asked the head of government to increase the reliability of the “KazSat-2” satellite being jointly created with Russia.Nazarbayev recalled that the first satellite, “KazSat-1,” manufactured on Kazakhstan’s order by Russian specialists and launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in the summer of 2008, was lost in orbit. Due to a failure in the onboard digital computer system, the satellite stopped working and did not respond to signals from the ground control center.
Because of this, a serious scandal nearly erupted between the two countries: the head of Kazakhstan’s National Space Agency, Talgat Musabayev, stated that “the satellite was assembled from unreliable Russian components” and was “pushed” onto Kazakhstan, with assurances that everything “works great.” The republic’s expenses for creating its own satellite amounted to $65 million.
Putin noted during the meeting that cooperation would benefit not only Russia’s space industry, but would also serve the development of Kazakhstan’s space industry.