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The Pakistan Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (SUPARCO) is Pakistan's national space agency. It is responsible for the execution of the space science and technology programs in the country, as approved by the Government of Pakistan. SUPARCO is an autonomous R&D organization under the Federal Government. The Commission comprises the Chairman and four Members for Space Technology, Space Research, Space Electronics and Finance, respectively.
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[edit] SUPARCO
The Pakistan Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (SUPARCO) is the country's national space agency. It is responsible for the execution of the space science and technology programs in the country, as approved by the Government of Pakistan. SUPARCO is an autonomous R&D organization under the Federal Government. The Commission comprises the Chairman and four Members for Space Technology, Space Research, Space Electronics and Finance, respectively.
[edit] Commission Functions
- To prepare and submit proposals, schemes or projects necessary for the achievement and promotion of its objectives to Government of Pakistan for approval.
- To carry out the research and application programs approved by the Government of Pakistan.
- To undertake such special surveys, investigations and other specialized works as may be assigned to it by the Government of Pakistan.
- To prepare and submit quarterly progress reports and its annual budget to Government of Pakistan for approval.
Recently, it has been reported that Pakistan is preparing to launch its own satellite launching system. Pakistan's first Space Launch Vehicle (SLV) will be available in the near future. The news has not been widely reported, therefore there is little known about it. But in a recent visit to Ideas 2002 exhibition, Usman Shabir noticed a model of Pakistan's first SLV.
[edit] Model of Pakistan's first SLV
Despite all the efforts put in by Suparco, the process of conquering the upper atmosphere has been relatively slow. Pakistan is slowly progressing in this field, and will have the full capability of launching its own satellites in Space within a few years. The improvement in economy and the impression made by Paksat might help Suparco win more funds by the government of Pakistan.
The national space agency of Pakistan, the Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (SUPARCO), was established in 1962 as an autonomous research and development organization under the federal government. [1] According to SUPARCO, Pakistan's space program is "aimed at furthering research in space science and allied fields, enhancing indigenous capabilities in space technology and promoting the peaceful applications of space science and technology for the socio-economic development of the country." [2]
Since 2002, the main concern of Pakistan's space program has been the acquisition of a satellite in order to preserve the geostationary orbital slot allocated to it by the International Telecommunications Union in 1984.[3] The total number of slots available in geostationary orbit are limited. Because Pakistan was not able to place a satellite in the four orbital slots it had been assigned previously, it was given one final orbital position and a deadline of April 19, 2003, with the understanding that if the location was not filled, Pakistan would not have access to any future geostationary positions.[3] In December 2002, Pakistan accomplished this task by acquiring the United States' HGS3 satellite, which was originally launched in 1996 as Indonesia's Palapa C1 and was later sold to Turkey. [4, 2] When Pakistan leased the satellite, it was renamed Paksat-1 and was relocated from Turkey's orbital slot to Pakistan's. [2]
[edit] Military Programs
The secretary of SUPARCO, Syed Naseem Shah, stated in 2002 that while Pakistan is an ardent advocate of peaceful space applications, it was also fully aware of the military applications of space technology. [1]
Pakistan's first geostationary satellite Paksat-1, a communications satellite, was officially publicized as being used for educational purposes. [2] After Paksat-1 successfully commenced operations in January 2003, President Pervez Musharraf declared that Pakistan must also have an observation satellite. [3] Pakistan announced plans in late January 2003 to launch an indigenous satellite to replace Paksat-1 within three years, and President Musharraf stated that this satellite would meet communication and earth observation needs for Pakistan's national interests. [4] Although not clearly defined as having civilian or military purposes, SUPARCO announced in April 2002 that it planned to launch its high-resolution earth observation satellite, EOSS, in three to four years using a three-phased approach.[1]
In April 1998, Pakistan, China, Iran, South Korea, Mongolia, and Thailand signed the "Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation in Small Multi-Mission Satellite and Related Activities."[5] The small multi-mission spacecraft (SMMS) project aims to develop a satellite for civilian remote-sensing and communications experiments. [6] The SMMS satellite is scheduled for launch into sun-synchronous polar orbit by 2005. [6] It will carry a hyperspectral imager and two wide-swatch charge-coupled device cameras, developed with the help of Iran, as well as an experimental telecommunications system. [6,7] The sharing of space-imaging technology made possible by the MOU could help give Pakistan an autonomous military reconnaissance capability. [5,6] Pakistan is also working with China on a regional remote-sensing initiative. [6]
[edit] Launch Capabilities
Pakistan is still in the process of developing its own Satellite Launch Vehicle (SLV). The country's indigenously fabricated communications satellites Badr-1 and Badr-B were launched on a Chinese Long March rocket in 1990 and a Russian Zenit-2 rocket from Kazakhstan in December 2001, respectively. [1,2]
Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan, the father of Pakistan's nuclear program, announced in March 2001 that Pakistani scientists were in the process of building the country's first SLV and that the project had been assigned to Pakistan's national space agency, the Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (SUPARCO), which also built the Badr satellites.[3]According to Dr. Abdul Majid, chairman of SUPARCO, Pakistan envisaged a low-cost SLV in order to launch lightweight satellites into low-earth orbits. [4] Dr. Khan also cited the fact that India had made rapid strides in the fields of SLV and satellite manufacture as another motivation for developing an indigenous launch capability.[3] According to an Islamabad news source, the SLV would be derived from an already available missile launching system, which may be an indication that technologies acquired for the ballistic missile program would eventually be used to develop an SLV. [4,5] All the experiments necessary to ready the SLV for a complete flight test have not been completed, although Pakistani scientists have tested three of the four stages. [4] The government has halted all experiments for the time being for unspecified reasons. [4]
SUPARCO's headquarters are located in Karachi. Its space launch facilities are located in southern Pakistan at Sonmiani Beach on the Arabian Sea. [6] However, SUPARCO has only launched sounding rockets from this site, referred to as the Flight Test Range (FTR). [6] These facilities are shared with the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission's National Defence Comples, which uses the site to flight-test solid-fueled ballistic missiles. [7] SUPARCO has a ground station near Islamabad and telemetry, tracking, and control stations located at Sonmiani Beach, Karachi, and Lahore. [8]
Pakistan's Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (SUPARCO) was established in 1961, and started functioning in 1964. A national organisation with a high degree of autonomy, it implements the space policy established by the Space Research Council (SRC), whose president is the Prime Minister. SUPARCO's programs include the development and launch of sounding rockets, and satellite applications in the field of remote sensing and communications. SUPARCO is headquartered at the Arabian Sea port of Karachi in southern Pakistan, with additional facilities at the University of the Punjab at Lahore. As of late 1999 the Chairman of SUPARCO was Dr. Abdul Majeed. SUPARCO's organization includes:
Aerospace Institute, Islamabad Computer Center, Karachi Control System Laboratories Flight Test Range, Sonmiani Beach Instrumentation Laboratories, Karachi Material Research Division Quality Control and Assurance Unit Rocket Bodies Manufacturing Unit Solid Composite Propellant Unit Space and Atmospheric Research Center, Karachi Static Test Unit, Karachi
In June 1998 the US Commerce Department implemented the Clinton Administration's sanctions on India and Pakistan. The sanctions included a licensing policy of denial for exports and reexports of items controlled for nuclear nonproliferation and missile technology reasons to India and Pakistan. Additionally, the rule added certain Indian and Pakistani government, parastatal, and private entities to the Entity List. A prohibition was imposed on exports and reexports to certain government, parastatal, and private entities in India and Pakistan determined to be involved in nuclear or missile activities.
Unlike the national space agencies of many developing countries, SUPARCO has a rather low public profile that if anything has declined over time. The agency does not have an internet website, and indeed the "brochure-ware" presence maintained by the United Nations Development Program has been taken offline. The quarterly journal "Space Horizon" published by SUPARCO since 1983, ceased publication in June 1991, while "Suparco Times" a quarterly journal published by SUPARCO since 1982, ceased publication in March 1994.
Pakistan has undertaken a number of steps for consolidating and focusing it space programme in response to national priorities. The satellite ground station for reception of NOAA, Landsat and SPOT data was upgraded in the late 1990s. A national GIS Committee was constituted to bring about GIS standardization. Work on the development of Badr-B multi-mission satellite is well advanced. A Space Applications Research Centre has been commissioned at Lahore, and the Aerospace Institute, under SUPARCO, has started training and education of space application experts.
The Inter-Islamic Network On Space Sciences and Technology [ISNET] was founded in 1986, in order to promote the advancement of Space sciences and Technology in the countries of the Islamic World. The member countries include Pakistan, Malaysia, Indonesia, Jordan, Syria, Bangladesh, Bahrain, Brunei, Kuwait, Senegal and Cameroon. It is headed by a President, who has assumed as Chairman, SUPARCO and assisted by Executive Director. Dr. Abdul Majid was its founding Executive Director. Headquartered in SUPARCO headquarters, Karachi, it has been responsible directly and indirectly in the fabrication, processing and launch of Muslim Ummah's First Experimental Satellite, BADAR-1. This satellite was launched as a piggyback payload on 16th July, 1990 aboard the Chinese Long March 2-E Launch Vehicle. The SUPARCO Complex near Rawat is a comprehensive facility that tracks, acquires, archives, processes and analyses imagery from earth observation satellites such as Landsat, SPOT and NOAA. The acquisition zone of this facility extends to approximately 2,500 km around Islamabad, and its products are being provided to more than 70 public and private sector user agencies in Pakistan.
As national co-ordinator for remote sensing in Pakistan, SUPARCO organizes short training courses on annual/biannual basis to acquaint the national users with application of satellite remote sensing data for resource and environmental surveying. These courses are regularly held at Remote Sensing Applications Centre (RESACENT), Karachi or at its regional centers at other cities in the country. The RESACENT has been actively pursuing a multidisciplinary remote sensing application programme since 1973. The research studies based mainly on Landsat/SPOT data supplemented by aerial and conventional data have been carried out at the Centre. A large volume of Landsat MSS/TM and SPOT XS/PAN data covering the whole of Pakistan and a limited amount of SIR-A, Metric Camera and CZCS data are available at this Centre. These data are being used by scientists/engineers of the Centre as well as by the national user agencies for various application studies. Satellite data acquired from the NOAA meteorological satellites in APT mode as well as the environmental data acquired through DCPs are also provided to other concerned agencies.
As the national space agency, SUPARCO is responsible for satellite applications to meteorological and atmospheric studies for scientists belonging to various national agencies. Courses held at SUPARCO's Space and Atmospheric Research Centre (SPARCENT) at Karachi, cover the following: acquisition of data from meteorologial satellites. application of satellite data to various meteorological and related environmental studies; determination of vertical profiles of atmospheric parameters through satellite radiance; study of earth's atmosphere through balloon and rocket soundings; air pollution monitoring; collection of environmental data from unmanned Data Collection Platforms. Research studies carried out at SPARCENT include ionospheric physics and radio wave propagation; satellite tracking using optical and radio techniques; geomagnetism; observational astronomy, as well as Communication Satellite System design, evaluation, technical studies, data acquisition/interpretation, small ground terminals/receivers.
SUPARCO facilities include small and medium range sounding rocket launching facilities; telemetry and tracking facility; I4 inches Cassegrain optical telescopes; mobile video optical system; Magnavox receivers; radio tracking receivers. Satellite tracking station. Other facilities include PIR 9A and 9B vertical incidence ionospheric sounders; Digisond 256 for acquisition of ionospheric data; VLF receiver/comparator (l6 KHz) for monitoring solar flares; in-house microcomputer facility; automatic geomagnetic observatory. The RESACENT has well-equipped laboratory facilities for visual as well as digital interpretation and analysis of remotely sensed data. Electro-optical equipment used for visual interpretation include density slicer, zoom transferscope, zoom stereoscopes, Diazo developer/printer, rationing radiometer and other equipment. The Centre's digital processing facilities include a dedicated, interactive, micro-processor based image processing system - EBBA II - and MicroVax II computer with a GPX workstation. Various I/O peripherals are connected to both systems. A Local Area Network (LAN) incorporating 8 user terminals and the GPX workstation has also been developed on basis of the MicroVax II.
SUPARCO has also established a satellite ground receiving station at Islamabad to acquire Landsat MSS and TM, SPOT XS and Pan and NOAA AVHRR HRPT data in real-time. This station is one of the most advanced and sophisticated stations in the Asia-Pacific region. It covers, in addition to the whole of Pakistan, a large number of neighbouring countries, wholly or partially. The station has most modern facilities for data reception, preprocessing and processing, which include S and X band dish antennas, high density digital tape recorders, VAX 11/780 computers, array processors, high precision B & W and colour film recorder, etc.
SUPARCO also has sophisticated ground receiving station for acquisition of NOAA APT pictures and facilities for reception of TOVS/HRPT data. Micro computer based systems are available for the processing of NOAA and TOVS/HRPT data. Other facilities include DCPs for the collection of environmental data from remote and inaccessible areas and Local User Terminal (LUT) for acquisition and processing of these data under the ARGOS Network; Surface Air Pollution Monitoring Equipment; Analytical Chemistry Lab. for the analysis of field samples; Balloon Sounding Facility for Stratospheric Ozone and related Upper Atmospheric Studies.
[edit] Sources and Methods
Chronology of Pakistani Missile Development Dual-use Export Control Sanctions India and Pakistan Bureau of Export Administration December 4, 1998 Parastatal and private entities determined to be involved in nuclear or missile activities
