Universities of Kazakhstan and China to Cooperate on Microsatellite Launch

@gov.kz

Al-Farabi Kazakh National University and the Northwest Polytechnic University of China have agreed to conduct joint scientific research using microsatellites.

According to the press service of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the agreement was reached during  talks between the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, and Xi Jinping, during the latter’s official visit to Kazakhstan.

The initiative, the first of its kind to be implemented by Kazakh universities,  opens up new opportunities for space research, training qualified specialists, and developing joint satellites, as well as enabling remote sensing studies of the Earth via a microsatellite.

Integral to the project, is an aim to develop equipment for gravimetric measurements, including a specialized ground station and a transmitter on the satellite, designed to detect density inhomogeneities in the Earth’s crust and mantle. The employment of such, will help solve fundamental problems in the study of geodynamic processes at great depths.

The North-West Polytechnic University of China is a leader in launching objects into space whilst Al-Farabi Kazakh National University, the only Kazakh university with experience in launching nanosatellites into orbit , has already launched its own Al-Farabi-1 and Al-Farabi-2 nanosatellites.