Uzbekistan launches its first space satellite

Photo: Samarkand-2028 is lifting off to space atop China’s Jielong 3 rocket :: Uzcosmos

Uzbekistan has launched its first satellite into space—Samarkand-2028. The spacecraft was developed by the space research agency of this Central Asian republic (Uzcosmos) on a platform provided by the Chinese company Star Vision.

The latter also carried out the launch of the Uzbek satellite from a sea-based floating platform in the Yellow Sea on August 5. Currently, it flies in a polar orbit at an altitude of about 800 km.

Uzbek specialists created an artificial intelligence module for the satellite that processes hyperspectral data directly in orbit. On August 7, Uzcosmos published the first image of the Earth’s surface transmitted from Samarkand-2028.

The information gathered by the satellite can be used in agriculture, ecology, natural resource monitoring, water resource management, emergency prevention, urban planning, and for other strategically important purposes, the Ministry of Digital Technologies of Uzbekistan said.

The spacecraft’s name refers to the decision of the International Astronautical Federation to hold one of the world’s largest space conferences—the 79th International Astronautical Congress—in the Uzbek city of Samarkand in 2028.

Uzbekistan has become the fifth country in Central Asia and the Caucasus to acquire a space satellite after Azerbaijan, Armenia, Kazakhstan, and Turkmenistan.