Suparco

Suparco first built a small amateur radio satellite in the late 1980s with the help of Pakistan Amateur Radio Society. Due to the explosion of Challenger Space Shuttle, the launch of Pakistan's first satellite was delayed. The satellite was finally launched in orbit by a Chinese LM-2E rocket on the July of 1990. This satellite was formally called the Badar-1 satellite, after the Urdu language word for "new moon". Badar-1 provided a five weeks experience in telemetry, uplink/downlink, and other satellite related technology. Badar-1 provided the platform for Pakistan to build another satellite named Badar-2 or Badar-B.

Pakistan's second satellite Badar-2, was successfully injected into earth's orbit on 10th December 2001 from Kazakhstan by a Chinese Zenit-2 rocket. Badar-2 had a near circular orbit, also known as a synchronous orbit.

The 68.5 Kg satellite Badar B was built by Suparco (Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission). It has an expected design life of 2-3 years. The main mission objectives of BADR -2 program includes the indigenous development of low cost satellites and the creation of the necessary infrastructure for future development in this field. This gravity gradient stabilized small Earth Observation satellite was designed by Space Innovations Limited (SIL) of the United Kingdom. The spacecraft sub-systems were SIL designed and manufactured, but the spacecraft integration was performed by SUPARCO. Most of the equipment used in the satellite was acquired in Pakistan. Badar -2 will conduct four major on-board experiments:
1. earth imaging
2. use of radiation dosimeter
3. data storage and forwarding
4. a charged battery experiment
Addition to this; Pakistan has undertaken a number of steps for consolidating and focusing its space program in response to national priorities. The satellite ground station for reception of NOAA, Landsat and SPOT data was upgraded in the late 1990s. 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.
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 meteorological 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.

Picture of a developing Suparco Facility
Suparco recently bought a third hand satellite from Turkey with an initial cost of 4.5 million dollars. Suparco named this satellite "Paksat 1". Which indicates that Suparco plans to launch more satellites in this new series? Paksat is strictly a communications satellite and was originally bought to fulfill the National requirement to complete the last orbital slot that remained for Pakistan. Paksat was originally developed for Indonesia by Boeing. It was later bought by Turkey, and now Pakistan took over it.
The Nation reported that the ministry made the decision to start this satellite project after it came to know that the orbital slot allocated to Pakistan by the ITU (38 degrees East) would lapse in April 2003 unless Pakistan has a satellite in place with transponders switched on and the ownership of the slot was approved internationally. The ministry in August last year signed an agreement with Hughes Global Satellite System - the US-based satellite positioning giant - to position Pakistan's satellite. The cabinet had approved the acquisition of Hughes Global Systems Satellite (HGS3) as the Paksat-1 satellite, on lease for five years with an initial cost of approximately $4.5 million, while another $4.6 million would be payable for the next five years for operational expenses as long as the satellite remains functional.
Paksat Launch Vehicle

The satellite would help further decrease the bandwidth rates as there will be a huge amount of bandwidth capability available in the country, an official reported. The satellite, which would also be used for transmission of new TV channels has 30 C-band and 4 Ku band transponders on board. It was also mentioned that this satellite could be used to broadcast educational television programs to other Muslim nations. The officials reported that a limited use of the satellite would help earn revenue and it could be used for educational, Internet and data networking at low costs.
The program will also benefit from Pakistan Educational Network (PEN), which was launched recently by President Musharraf, linking 57 public and private sector universities through fiber optic system, the statement said. Through this link, faculty resources can be shared and lectures given by eminent professionals in one part of Pakistan can be listened to by students in other parts of the country, it added. The HEC chairman, Prof Attaur Rehman, in a statement said the new initiative of the commission would also allow live lectures from top institutions in the West to be broadcast through Paksat- 1 and be accessible to students and faculty members in different universities in the country. The Virtual University has been given the responsibility to initiate the series of lectures and it is expected that foreign lecture program will be initiated later this summer, as soon as the universities have suitable internal computerization and networking facilities to receive such live broadcasts.

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.

Model of Pakistan's first SLV. Copyrights belong to Usman Shabir
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 decade. The improvement in economy, and the impression made by Paksat might help Suparco win more funds by the government of Pakistan.

References:

http://www.fas.org/spp/guide/pakistan/comm/ 'Information on Badar-1

http://www.fas.org/spp/guide/ukraine/launch/zenit.htm 'Information on Zenit Rocket

http://www.fas.org/spp/guide/pakistan/agency/ ' Information on Suparco

http://www.apnic.net/mailing-lists/s-asia-it/archive/2003/01/msg00031.html ' Information on Paksat Project

http://www.pakistaniaviation.com/ ' Information on Paksat uses.