Kazakhstan's sole space satellite breaks down

By Maria Golovnina

ALMATY (Reuters) - Kazakhstan's sole communications satellite, used by many of the country's television broadcasters, is out of control due to a computer glitch and is likely to be lost altogether, space officials said on Monday.

Kazakhstan launched the Russian-build KazSat-1 satellite in June 2006, the first of four which it aimed to have in orbit by 2020 and which it said would establish the Central Asian country as a global space power.

"There is a high probability that the satellite will be lost," Kazakhstan's National Space Agency said in a statement.

Agency head Talgat Musabayev said the satellite, which experts said cost $60 million to $100 million at the time of launch, has been out of touch since June 8 and could no longer be controlled from a space command centre in neighboring Russia.

"It's still alive but it's not breathing well," Musabayev, himself a former cosmonaut, told reporters. "It is not responding to commands."

Musabayev said a breakdown in KazSat's onboard digital computing system was to blame for its sudden failure, which forced some of Kazakhstan's major broadcasters, such as the state-run channel Khabar TV, to switch to more costly back-up satellites.

A number of smaller television companies have had to close altogether, he said.

Home to the Baikonur Cosmodrome, a space centre built in Soviet times and now leased to Russia for $115 million a year, Kazakhstan has long harbored dreams of developing its own independent space program.