Countries of Central Asia may join efforts in outer space exploration
The countries of Central Asia can cooperate in outer space exploration, creating a regional Center for Space Research. As the International news agency “Kazinform” informs, this issue was discussed during the visit to Bishkek of the delegation of the Ministry of Defense and Aerospace Industry of Kazakhstan, which included Kazakhstan cosmonaut Aydin Aimbetov. The prospects of using space technologies in various spheres of state development were discussed during the meeting at the National Academy of Sciences of Kyrgyzstan. In this regard, the sides exchanged views on the organization of the partnership of the Central Asian states in the space field within the framework of the joint research center on this subject. Turkmenistan advocates the idea of wide development of interstate, regional and global interaction in various fields, including space. In 2011, the National Space Agency of the country was established. Moreover, in 2015, Turkmenistan joined the “space club”, launching the communication satellite “TürkmenÄlem 52°E” to the geostationary orbit. The launch was carried out from the cosmodrome at Cape Canaveral in Florida (USA) on a Falcon-9 carrier rocket. Turkmenistan successfully exploits the launched communications satellite, and currently is working on launching a second one, which should add the capabilities of “TürkmenÄlem 52° E”. If the first satellite allowed the country the issues of the telecommunications sphere to be settled, the second one is intended to be assigned for remote sounding of the earth. The received data will be used in the fuel-energy, agricultural, environmental and other fields. In next six years, Turkmenistan will channel funds of 1 billion and 300 million manat (more than 370 million US dollars) for the development of the space industry.
