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Kazakhstan may lift Russian rocket ban

ALMATY: Kazakhstan could lift a ban on the launch of Russian Proton rockets from its Baikonur cosmodrome in time for a planned blast-off next week, a Kazakh space official said on Thursday.

Nurlan Utembayev, deputy head of Kazakhstan's National Space Committee, told Reuters that Russia had met all its obligations to Kazakhstan following the crash of a Proton last October. He added that the cause of the accident had been established.

"The ban will likely be lifted at the start of next week and we hope the launch will take place on February 12 as planned," Utembayev said. "All our conditions have been met."

Russia plans to launch 12 to 14 Protons this year as part of its commercial space programme. The Proton scheduled for launch next week will carry an Indonesian Garuda-1 satellite.

The programme, often involving the launch of foreign satellites for a fee, was put in doubt after Kazakhstan suspended Protons in reaction to two failures of the high-power rocket booster in July and October last year.

Utembayev said the cause of the latest accident had been identified by a joint Kazakh-Russian commission.

"The conclusion was that the crash was caused by a production fault in which foreign bodies were allowed to enter the fuel tank," he said. "Unlike the last time the experts are unanimous about this."

Utembayev said measures had been taken to fix the problem.

He said Russia had also paid full compensation for the crash, amounting to about $370,000. The commission's report has been submitted to the government, he added.

The Proton crashes have strained normally friendly relations between the neighbouring states.

Russia rents the Baikonur space base for $115 million a year, although Kazakhstan has used the failures to angle for a share of the income from commercial launches.

Utembayev said the basic rent for the space pad would remain unchanged for the time being and said Kazakhstan was pushing for Moscow to use its space expertise.

"What we want is for Russia to make use of services which can be provided by Kazakh experts and organisations," he said. "This would mean some of the income will come to us in the form of payment for services rendered."

He said Russia appeared to support to the suggestion.-Reuters