1st September 2019
By: Haris Ahmad[1]
Pakistan is a rapidly growing country in terms of development and economy. Pakistan has achieved a lot in many aspects, but still; it hasn’t yet thought much about development in aeronautics or aerospace which is an aspect that could lead to a large number of problems shortly, but before coming to the main topic, we all should know that why NASA (which is currently the most recognized administration for aeronautic and aerospace discoveries) was formed. It was formed in competition with Russia’s space agency Roscosmos. As in those times, there were many conflicts between both nations and a space race was going on. Now coming to the main topic, we all know that India is a nation that Pakistan wants to succeed against in all aspects, but Pakistan doesn’t think about what Indians have achieved in aerospace and aeronautics. Right now only 3 institutions in Pakistan are offering Space sciences and they are:
1. Institute of Space and Technology
2. University of Karachi
3. University of Punjab
Now we all know that Pakistan lacks in development in Space and as for its space agencies, SUPARCO (Space and Upper Atmospheric Research Corporation) has not yet achieved anything big in space technology or research. Whereas, ISRO (Indian Space Research Organization) has made outstanding achievements in space and later I will tell you how these achievements, will help Indians shortly. ISRO has become the most successful space agency after Nasa 2 days ago when it launched Chandrayan 2 successfully to orbit and research about our Moon. Before this ISRO had achieved something that Pakistan can’t even achieve in the next few decades. It was ISRO’s Mars orbiter Mangalyaan that was launched successfully on 5th November 2013 making ISRO the 4th agency to send an orbiter to Mars successfully. The fun fact is that Mangalyaan Mars’s orbiter’s total budget was $74 million while Nasa’s Maven Mars orbiter’s budget was $672 million and it was launched in the same year. Coming to SUPARCO, it has been quite dormant in recent years and has also failed to gather any top breakings other than making the rocket PAK-TES-1A, but it has launched 2 satellites to Earth’s orbit on 9th July 2019. The satellites were launched onboard a Chinese Long March (LM-2C) rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre located at the Gobi desert, China. One of the satellites launched is a remote sensing satellite (PRSS1) which is a dual-purpose Earth observational and optical satellite. I know this is something good but the question is that why did Pakistan launch these rockets from China’s launch base and why did Pakistan use a Chinese rocket instead of its PAK-TES-1A? Pakistan is currently in the list of countries, which are still lacking a launch facility. Express Tribune[2] says that “The satellites were then transported to China as our country lacks the infrastructure to launch objects”. These satellites are not meant for any ‘strategic or military purpose’. The sole objective is to obtain data for weather and environment, something that would greatly benefit the agriculture sector in the country. On the other hand, according to the Foreign Office, the 1,200 kg satellite PRSS-1 will operate at an altitude of 640 km. The satellite will enable Pakistan to meet its imagery requirements in the areas of land mapping, agriculture classification and assessment, urban and rural planning, environmental monitoring, natural disaster management and water resource management for the socio-economic development of the country. Now, in terms of the Asian Space race, India is leading in all aspects of space and is planning for more soon. India also possesses its Anti-Satellite missile systems. Anti-satellite weapons are space weapons designed to incapacitate or destroy satellites for strategic military purposes. Several nations possess operational ASAT systems which are India, the USA, Russia, and China. Now coming to the future of Pakistan, on 25th October 2018, Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry said that the country would send a human to space in 2022. This can be made possible if the work required is done properly and on time. Although there are examples of government satellites taking 10 years or more to develop and launch, the data reflects that, on average, it takes 7½ years to develop and launch the first vehicle, and just over 3 years to assemble and launch subsequent vehicles. This is the example of a launch facility and rockets that are made by other known nations.
Making a launch facility of our own is possible with a good infrastructure but Pakistan has not yet announced the construction of its launch facility. Pakistan would probably use the Chinese Long March (LM-3C) to launch the first human to space from the Jiaquan Launch Facility in the Gobi Desert. To get better global recognition, Pakistan needs to build a space station similar to the ISS (International Space Station). The ISS serves as a microgravity and space environment research laboratory in which the crew conducts experiments in biology, human biology, physics, astronomy, meteorology, and other fields. The station is also suited for the testing of spacecraft systems and equipment required for missions to the Moon, Mars and to other planets soon.
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