Uzbekistan launches AI-powered Earth observation satellite VIDEO

Uzbekistan, in partnership with a Chinese company, has successfully launched the Samarkand-2028 hyperspectral Earth observation satellite, marking a significant milestone for the country's space programme.

The satellite was launched from the Haiyang East spaceport in China, Caliber.Az reports via foreign media.

Developed by STAR.VISION in cooperation with Uzbekistan's national space agency, Uzbekcosmos, the project is being hailed as a major step forward in the development of Uzbekistan's domestic space industry, the adoption of advanced technologies, and the expansion of scientific and technical cooperation between Tashkent and Beijing.

The launch took place on August 5 from a sea-based platform off the coast of China's Shandong Province. Uzbekistan's Ministry of Digital Technologies described the mission as one of the largest international space projects in the country's history.

Samarkand-2028 is a hyperspectral Earth observation satellite equipped with an artificial intelligence module developed by specialists at Uzbekcosmos. The onboard AI is designed to process part of the collected data before it is transmitted to Earth, reducing the volume of information sent, accelerating data delivery, and improving the efficiency of subsequent analysis.

The satellite's data will support a wide range of applications, including agriculture, water resource management, environmental monitoring, early detection of natural disasters, urban planning, and more efficient land use.

The project will also serve as a platform for training Uzbek specialists in space technologies, artificial intelligence, and satellite data processing.

By Aghakazim Guliyev