Kyrgyzstan has put out for public discussion a state programme to develop its space industry in 2027–2031, reported Kaktus.media.
The programme was drafted by the Presidential Affairs Department, now responsible for state policy on satellite technologies. By 2031 it aims to create a national system for receiving, processing and using Earth observation data, with priority given to monitoring glaciers, water resources and natural hazards.
The plan has two stages:
- 2027–2028: the legal framework, a national Earth observation platform, a satellite data processing centre, monitoring services for glaciers, water, emergencies and farmland, and the start of specialist training;
- 2029–2031: extending these services to all state agencies.
A National Centre for Space Technologies would be created on the basis of the state company Kyrgyz Asman, formerly Kyrgyz Sputnik. The programme also envisages a feasibility study on building or buying a satellite of its own, possibly as a share in a partner’s spacecraft. On October 1, 2026, the Kyrgyz satellite Altair was launched on a SpaceX rocket as part of a group of satellites.
For a mountain country, satellites are a matter of survival. Tian Shan glaciers lost about 27% of their mass between 1961 and 2012, threatening water supplies for Kyrgyzstan and its downstream neighbours. Today Kyrgyzstan has no ground infrastructure of its own and relies on foreign data providers. The cost of the programme has not been disclosed.
CentralasianLIGHT.org,
November 12, 202