Kazakhstan, China Launch High-Precision Nanosatellite

Kazakhstan and China have placed a jointly developed high-precision nanosatellite into orbit, the Kazakh Ministry of Science announced.

Built by Al-Farabi Kazakh National University and China’s Northwestern Polytechnical University, the satellite was launched on December 13 to a 530 km orbit aboard a Kuaizhou-11 rocket, The Caspian Post reports, citing Kazakh media.

The nanosatellite is designed to carry out several advanced scientific tasks, including high-stability target tracking, dynamic orientation sensing and compensation using flexible sensors, and autonomous recognition of Earth observation images based on the open-source OpenHarmony operating system.

According to the ministry, the project offers four key advantages: cost efficiency through the use of commercial components and innovative design, high stability and pointing accuracy, powerful onboard computing capabilities for adaptive error compensation, and rapid data transmission to Earth.

The project was implemented with the support of the Northwestern Polytechnical University branch at KazNU, the National Joint Research Laboratory under the Belt and Road Initiative, the Aerospace Institute, and the National Key Laboratory of Flexible Electronics.

Academician Huang Wei is an advisor to the project. Overall leadership is provided by Professor Yue Xiaokui, and KazNU Professor Zaure Rakisheva, serving as deputy project leader. More than 20 researchers and young experts from Kazakhstan and China have been involved in the joint research team.

The collaboration opens up new opportunities for space research, training of highly qualified specialists, and the development of future joint satellite projects, also enabling advanced Earth remote sensing capabilities using microsatellite technology.