Pakistan Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (Suparco) is all set to launch communication satellite by 2011. This was stated by Major General Raza Hussain (Retd), Chairman, Suparco at an inaugural ceremony of World Space Week (WSW)-2009 held at National Center for Remote Sensing & Geo Informatics (NCRG), Suparco here, on Monday.
He said that the project is a joint venture with China, which would help Pakistan to compete international market. Presently, a number of the satellite systems are orbiting our planet as well as other planets. The satellite systems have been categorised according to their applications; including communication, weather, navigation and earth observations.
Meteorological satellites are an important category of satellites being used to provide information about cyclones, tropical storms, sea ice conditions, snow cover extent and weather forecast. The global navigation satellite system (GNSS) is yet another revolutionised system used for pinpointing the exact geographic location of a user in the world supporting a host of applications relating to resource and environment as well as tracking, navigation and mapping, he said.
Communication satellites provide wide area services like telephone, facsimile and Internet without the need for extensive ground facilities. Satellites provide broadcast transmission all over the world. Tele-medicine and Tele-education are the most revolutionized applications where satellite communication technology carries great potential in providing timely quality information relating to health care and mass education irrespective of any geographic constraints.
These two applications need to be exploited particularly for the rural population. Another important category of satellites are earth observations satellite systems including LANDSAT, SPOT, IKONOS, Quickbird, GeoEye IRS, ERS, Radarsat, and NOAA series of satellites.
These satellites are providing Remote Sensing imageries, with varying spatial and spectral resolutions and ground coverage. These datasets are being used in a variety of mapping and monitoring applications leading to socio-economic development.
Raza said that the celebrations of the WSW are being carried out from October 04 to October 10 internationally as to recall two historical events ie, launching of the first artificial satellite Sputnik-I by the USSR on October 4, 1957 and signing of the United Nations Treaty on Principles Governing the Exploration and Peaceful Uses of Outer Space on October 10, 1967.
The theme of moot is "Space for Education", which is now become more vital in developing countries like Pakistan where the use of space technology in education is not yet fully thrived due to limited resources and lack of awareness and vision to utilise space resources for mass education. Therefore, the Suparco has initiated its Space Education and Awareness Program SEAP to educate and provide an access to the stakeholders and decision makers to acquire an insight into the world-wide space activities as well as knowledge of our national space programs, he said.
Presiding over the ceremony, Dr Pirzada Qasim, Vice Chancellor, University of Karachi said that the objective became more pronounced in Pakistan where most of the people have neither the access, nor the opportunity to learn about the latest developments about space technology. He further said that the satellite systems are presently being used for telecommunication, broadcasting, navigation and various other purposes.
Besides that, it also plays a critical role in heath, safety, environmental protection and achieving sustainable development. He urged the government to include space technology and applications in the curriculum, saying that this is the only way to provide better understanding about space to our students.
He lauded the efforts made by the Suparco, saying that the national space agency is doing an admirable job particularly in the applications of satellite technology for the social and economic development of the country, telemedicine, remote sensing, geographic information system and environmental monitoring.
Dr Badar Munir Khan Ghauri, director remote sensing and GIS application, Javed Ali, general manager Paksat, Amir Hussain, Dr Malik, Dr Suhail Zaki Farooqui, Farah Huma and students from different education institutions were also present on the occasion.