SUPARCO is Pakistan's Space and Upper
Atmosphere Research Commission and some of
the engineers who work there started as skilled
radio hams. They are graduates of the University
of Surrey in England, the institution which built
and operated many small satellites such as the
VO-9, UO-11 and UO-22 hamsats.
After the graduates returned to Lahore and
Karachi, they started to build their own satellite
With support from the Pakistan Amateur Radio
Society, in 1986 they started building the
satellite, the first one to be made in the Muslim
world. They called it Badr-1, after the Urdu word
for 'new moon'.
Answers
Answer:
The Space & Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (SUPARCO) (Urdu: خلائی و بالائے فضائی تحقیقاتی مأموریہ) is the executive and national space agency of Pakistan. It is headquartered at the Arabian sea port of Karachi in the southern part of Pakistan with additional facilities at the University of Punjab in Lahore.[4]
Space & Upper Atmosphere Research Commission
خلائی و بالائے فضائی تحقیقاتی مأموریہ
SUPARCO Pakistan Logo.png
SUPARCO logo
SUPARCO, Karachi. - panoramio.jpg
SUPARCO's headquarter in Karachi.
Agency overview
Abbreviation
SUPARCO
Formed
16 September 1961; 59 years ago
Type
Space agency
Headquarters
SUPARCO Road, Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan[1]
Motto
"Strive to achieve self-reliance in space technology and applications for national security, economy and society."[2]
Administrator
Major General Amer Nadeem, CoEME
Primary spaceport
Sonmiani Terminal Launch
Owner
Government of Pakistan
Annual budget
Decrease ₨4975 million (US$31 million)[3]
(2020-21)
Website
www.suparco.gov.pk
Established in 1961 to assist development of space science and research in Pakistan, agency started to function only in 1964. It started to import and launch sounding rockets in the early 1960s and attained capability to fabricate rocket motors. However, the agency kept a low profile for initial 30–35 years of its existence with limited progress in field of research and its progress in satellite technology also started relatively late.[5]
The country's first satellite, Badr-I, was built by the SUPARCO and launched from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center, China on July 16, 1990 which provided Pakistani scientists with valuable experience in telemetry and other satellite technologies.[6][7]
SUPARCO played a significant role in development of Pakistan missiles. In early 80s, SUPARCO started to develop Hatf-I and Hatf-II missiles. M-11 missiles were imported from China for security needs and a factory too was developed for manufacturing missiles with help of China. [8]
In the meantime, the space programme suffered many setbacks, difficulties, and problems that partly slowed the progress of the space programme.[9] SUPARCO imported and maintained small amount of rocket fuel for scientific research and announced in 1999 that it will introduce its own satellite and launch vehicles in 3 years. However, no further details on this program were ever revealed.[10] The agnecy now has been pursuing Space programme 2040 since 2011 with only aim to launch more and more satellites from other countries only.[11] SUPARCO has faced criticism within in Pakistan for not being able to be upto its Chinese and Indian counterparts in terms of capabilities which have emerged as major space powers in recent decades.[12][13]