7 billion tenge is planned to be spent this year on creating new satellites in Kazakhstan.
"According to the budget programme of the Ministry of Digital Development (MCCID), a new remote sensing system (RSS) is needed to replace the existing ones. 7 billion tenge is planned to be allocated for this purpose this year. Last year the amount was 1 billion tenge. The project's completion level is expected to reach 44.4% by the end of the year. The planned implementation period is 2023-2027.", - reports the LS news agency, citing the ministry.
The MCCID noted that the new constellation of medium-resolution RSS satellites "KazEOSat-MR" will consist of three units, which will triple the timeliness of data acquisition, thanks to satellite survey imagery conducted once daily.
Furthermore, the project is expected to create 101 jobs.
"The economic benefit from import substitution in 2027-2031 will be about 104.4 billion tenge. During the same period, the indirect effect from providing government bodies with medium-resolution imagery will equal 46.5 billion tenge.", - the statement reads.
The MCCID plans to increase the total maximum satellite coverage area over 5 years to 2.4 billion sq. km.
Earlier, the Ministry of Digital Development reported that the total amount for the project's implementation would be about 18 billion tenge.
However reassuring the encouraging speeches of MCCID representatives may sound, our editorial team has a sad experience of interacting with various institutions and their unforgettable leaders, and therefore we prefer actions over dubious promises.
The FBRC editorial team has compiled from open sources contradictory statements from representatives of JSC "NC "Kazakhstan Gharysh Sapary" and the Aerospace Committee, which today gives the reader an understanding of the actions and promises of the latter.
On 8 April 2015, the chairman of the Aerospace Committee of the Ministry of Investment and Development of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Talghat Musabayev, stated at a plenary session of the Mazhilis that only two countries possess the space monitoring technologies that Kazakhstan uses.
According to him, Russia was ready to buy images from Kazakh satellites, not to mention other countries.
However, at the time of the statement, the satellites "KazEOSat-1" and "KazEOSat-2" did not belong to Kazakhstan, as Mr. Musabayev himself mentioned at that same session.
On 26 July 2016, acting president of JSC "NC "Kazakhstan Gharysh Sapary" Marat Nurguzhin stated in an interview with journalists that, as a result of the first half of 2016, Kazakhstan had sold satellite images to foreigners for 40 million tenge.
Then, on 21 November 2016, Mr. Nurguzhin reported that the amount of sales of space images abroad was 120 million tenge. He assured that state bodies of the Republic of Kazakhstan were provided with space images completely free of charge; otherwise, sales would have brought in a record 9 billion tenge.
On 20 October 2017, the new president of JSC "NC "Kazakhstan Gharysh Sapary" Yergazy Nurgaliyev said that Kazakhstan does not receive large revenues from selling images abroad (on average 50-60 million tenge), as many countries, particularly in Western Europe, do not need Kazakhstan's space services.
Then, on 12 June 2023, Deputy Chairman of the Management Board of JSC "NC "Kazakhstan Gharysh Sapary" Osken Toishibekov reported that the country has four domestic satellites monitoring forest and field fires from space, each conducting photographic surveys of the country's territory twice a day, and identifying potential fires using remote sensing.
On 13 February 2024, the national company published a post on social media, in which it nevertheless confirmed the use of foreign satellites.
Now, we hope, it has become obvious what is actually harming the "business reputation" of "Kazakhstan Gharysh Sapary". The national company is causing damage to itself independently through its own contradictory statements.
And it is important to remember here that we are talking about a company that plays a key role in the national space programme.
Despite the listed inconsistencies in the statements of the aforementioned managers, which, alas, are far from exhausting the entire contradictory list, the state still considers it rational to sponsor new projects by "Kazakhstan Gharysh Sapary".
Although it is obvious that there can be no demand for Kazakh satellite images when the national company itself purchases images from foreign suppliers.
So is there any point in spending 18 billion tenge on satellites which, by the time of launch, will probably not even fall into the category of "new technologies", let alone any hypothetical return on investment in the future, which space figures so love to convince the public of?