With the exception of the frequent Proton launches at Baikonur, Central Asia does not often draw much attention in terms of satellite activities. In Kazakhstan, the countdown should soon begin for the launch of the first Kazakh domestic communications satellite, Kazsat, according to the Federal Space Agency of Kazakhstan.

Kazakhstan is one of nine countries in Central Asia and the Caucasus participating in the Silk Project aka the Virtual Silk Highway. NATO plays a significant role in this project, which is named after the centuries old Silk Road that links Europe to Asia. Silk ties several Central Asian and non-Asian research networks to some of the European research networks such as Geant via Eurasiasat.

Silk was extended into Kabul about a year ago and that while the number of earth stations has remained fairly constant, the number of institutions attached by terrestrial links to the National Research and Education Networks in the countries has grown very considerably, according to Peter Kirstein, professor of Computer Communications Systems at the University College London and chair of the Silk Board. The estimate today is more than 300 institutes in the Caucasus and 200 in Central Asia are part of the network.

"The project is now continuing until at least mid 2008. When the project was extended, we realized that we must procure a new communications system for the project," says Kirstein. "The tender for the system is being managed by NATO, and the request for tender went out in March."

This tender allows for a significant expansion over present capacity — the next phase of the project is referred to as Silk-2 — but how much of this will be requested depends on the results of the tender and the relevant costs. At least eight more earth stations will be the likely result, according to Kirstein, although fiber penetration particularly in the Caucasus is steadily increasing.

"Throughout the 18 months from January 2005 to July 2006, the capacity growth has been steady but modest — from 20 megahertz to 28 megahertz," says Kirstein. "The growth throughout the last 18 months has been entirely due to the Silk countries buying additional bandwidth — albeit subsidized from the NATO project. The total NATO expenditure has remained constant — funding 18 megahertz from Eurasiasat."

Eurasiasat may or may not remain the primary link provider for Silk, says Kirstein. "We do not know. We have been happy with their service so far. However, we must await the results of the evaluation of the tenders received."

Readers may recall that almost two years ago, we touched on the Silk research involving native IPv6 over satellite. Kirstein labels that activity a success, but emphasizes that no migration to full service took place due to both an encoder issue — IPv6 DVB encoders used QPSK encoding in this instance whereas conventional IPv4 DVB encoders use 8PSK encoding — and the fact that IPv6 did offer substantial benefits to the Silk countries.

On the other side of Asia, China forged a multinational partnership in late 2005 known as the Asia-Pacific Space Cooperation Organization. Thus far, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Iran, Mongolia, Pakistan, Peru and Thailand have signed the convention. Vietnam, in the meantime, will soon announce the winner of the contract to build its first satellite, and it could be Lockheed Martin.

In April, I watched the speech on C-SPAN given by Luo Ge, vice administrator of China National Space Administration at an event sponsored by the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C. He said little about APSCO by name, although he spoke of China’s cooperation in space with the United Nations, the Europeans, Brazil and Russia, as well as regional partners.

He outlined the important role that satellite technology will play in China’s rural economic and social development. In particular, distance education stood out.

Luo Ge understands the importance of partnerships. So do we. So why not forge a working relationship in space ADD with China? We need to work together in order to live together, both on Earth and in space. The alternative is unacceptable.

Peter Brown is Via Satellite’s senior Multimedia & Homeland Security editor.