BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 18. Kazakhstan plans to produce communication satellites jointly with France's Airbus Defense and Space, with the first Kazakh-built satellite planned to be launched in 2026, Trend reports via the Ministry of Digital Development, Innovations and Aerospace Industry of Kazakhstan.
According to the ministry, this was stated during the meeting of Kazakh Minister of Digital Development, Innovations, and Aerospace Industry Bagdat Mussin, who was on a visit to France, with Olivier Becht, Minister Delegate for Foreign Trade, Economic Attractiveness and French Nationals Abroad. The meeting also included discussions with representatives from France's prominent companies specializing in digitalization, space, and aerospace technologies.
Talks with Airbus Defense and Space focused on the development of an assembly and test complex and satellite production.
Meanwhile, in talks with Thales Alenia Space, the sides focused on potential collaboration on projects involving the development of communication satellites to replace the KazSat satellites, as well as remote sensing satellites that have reached the end of their service life.
The delegation from Kazakhstan also held meetings with Eutelsat-One Web, ReOrbit and SES companies, discussing various strategies and technological solutions to ensure equal access to digital opportunities to provide communication to remote settlements and provide Internet access to hard-to-reach locations using low-orbit satellite systems.