Kazakhstan Taps Orbital Thermals to Manage 60% of Its Water Used by Agriculture

For space industry watchers, this deal marks a pivotal expansion of Earth observation into resource governance in Central Asia. By fusing Hydrosat's thermal infrared data with Kazakhstan's national geospatial assets, the collaboration not only targets water security—a growing security risk—but also validates small satellite constellations as critical tools for emerging markets' digital infrastructure.

On June 23, 2026, a landmark agreement was signed in Brussels between Hydrosat, a leading provider of thermal infrared satellite data and AI analytics, and Kazakhstan Gharysh Sapary (KGS), Kazakhstan’s national space company. The Joint Activity Agreement establishes a framework for a national-scale program to digitize water resource management using satellite-based thermal analytics and artificial intelligence, with the potential to expand across Central Asia. The signing occurred during a state visit by the President of Kazakhstan to Belgium, underscoring the strategic priority assigned to space technology and digital innovation in the country’s long-term development agenda.

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On June 23, 2026, a landmark agreement was signed in Brussels between Hydrosat, a leading provider of thermal infrared satellite data and AI analytics, and Kazakhstan Gharysh Sapary (KGS), Kazakhstan’s national space company.

Kazakhstan is one of the world’s top wheat exporters, with over 23 million hectares of agricultural land, nearly 2 million hectares of which are irrigated, primarily in the drought-prone southern regions. Agriculture alone accounts for more than 60% of national water consumption, making efficient water management a critical economic and security challenge. The partnership aims to tackle this by integrating Hydrosat’s thermal infrared satellite data—which measures land surface temperature to derive crop stress, evapotranspiration, and irrigation needs—with KGS’s existing national geospatial infrastructure, including its satellite ground segment and data distribution networks. The result will be a digital platform providing near-real-time, field-level water intelligence to government agencies, water utilities, and farmers.

The agreement marks a first-of-its-kind collaboration for Central Asia, a region that faces intensifying water scarcity driven by climate change, outdated irrigation systems, and transboundary river disputes. By placing satellite-driven analytics at the core of water governance, Kazakhstan positions itself as a regional testbed for space-enabled resource management. For Hydrosat, the deal represents a significant international expansion, demonstrating the growing commercial appetite for specialized Earth observation data beyond traditional markets in North America and Europe. The company’s thermal infrared sensors, which detect temperature variations at high resolution, offer a unique value proposition for agricultural and hydrological applications that optical satellites cannot match.