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PAKISTAN
Pakistan's national space programme covers many
areas of space science, technology and applications implemented
by the national space agency, Pakistan Space and Upper Atmosphere
Research Commission (SUPARCO). The Space Research Council,
headed by the Prime Minister, directs space matters and
the policies and programmes of SUPARCO at the national level.
SUPARCO has the capability to manufacture sounding rockets
and scientific payloads for undertaking scientific studies.
Pakistan's first completely indigenously designed and fabricated
small experimental satellite, Badr-A, carrying a communication
experiment, was launched in 1990. SUPARCO's programme of
work also comprise remote sensing applications for sustainable
national development, operation of ground stations for reception
of data from satellites, fabrication of multi-mission satellites,
and education and training in the fields of space technology
and applications. A Space applications Research Centre,
equipped with a COSPAS-SARSAT station and state-of-the-art
satellite command control station, is functional at Lahore.
A national remote sensing applications centre is functioning
at Karachi, and a ground receiving station for Landsat,
SPOT and NOAA data is operational at Islamabad. A national
GIS Committee was constituted to bring about GIS standardization
in the country. |
