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Satnews Daily
December 3rd, 2008

KazSat-1 Is No More...


With the statement, "That's it. It's gone," Talgat Musabeyev, the head of Khrunichev, announced the total disappearance of the KazSat-1 satellite, which entered its orbital slot in June of 2006.

Khrunichev's KazSat-1 satellite The $65 million satellite, Kazakhstan's first, stopped broadcasting to the country's territory on June 8. Its Russian manufacturer said in late October. However, the malfunctioning satellite had been brought back into geostationary orbit. The Khrunichev space research and production center stated it had fixed the problem and worked with Kazakh specialists earlier in October and that the satellite would resume its regular operations, once all of its systems had been tested. Khrunichev, one of Russia's leading space-industry firms, developed the KazSat-1 under a contract with the Kazakh government. It was put into orbit in June 2006. The company is currently building a second satellite for Kazakhstan, KazSat-2, in cooperation with Russian and foreign companies, including the Russian Institute of Space Engineering and European company Alcatel Alenia Space. KazSat-2 is scheduled for launch next year.