Pakistan will launch its first indigenously developed communications satellite on August 14, 2011, from a facility in China.Speaking to Dawn, Dr Mohammad Riaz Suddle, the director of the Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission’s (Suparco) satellite research and development centre in Lahore, said the satellite’s life span will be 15 years.Responding to a question, Dr Suddle said the satellite would be launched at a longitude of 38 degrees in geostationary orbit on the equatorial plane at an altitude of 36,000km above the Earth’s surface.

Paksat-1R will carry a communications payload to facilitate the introduction of a range of new services, including broadband internet, digital TV distribution/broadcasting, remote/rural telephony, emergency communications, tele-education and tele-medicine.

The contract for Pakis- tan Communication Satellite (Paksat-1R) was signed between Suparco and China Great Wall Industry Corporation (CGWIC), a Chinese firm, on October 15, 2008, in Beijing, during President Asif Zardari’s visit to China.

Work on the execution of the contract began soon after, and is progressing as scheduled, according to Dr Suddle. He did not reveal the cost of the project, but said the contract involves various other projects, including infrastructure, and therefore it is difficult to put an exact cost on the satellite itself.

Responding to a question, he said that at least two new satellites – Paksat-1R and Pakistan Remote Sensing Satellite (PRSS) – would be launched in the near future.

The satellites have been developed with technical and financial assistance from China.

The project has been approved by the federal government as part of the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP), he said.

When quizzed on where the finances for the project were coming from, Dr Suddle said that efforts are under way to secure a long-term concessional loan from the Chinese government to finance a major part of the project. [Reported: Dawn]

Pakistan already has a headstart on intermediate ballistic missiles, and has the technology, intelligence and resources to convert military missiles to space technology. Muhafiz e Pakistan A.Q. Khan confirms it. Pakistan has very robust IRBMs which can launch geostationary orbiting satellites. All Pakistan has to do is to erase Delhi or Kolkota from the target and point it towards the sky. Instead of Hydrogen bombs and Atomic bombs the missiles can easily carry a payload of a satellite.

• Pakistan has a communications satellite, Paksat-1, in orbit, providing coverage across Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Central Asia and the South Asian subcontinent. It is being used by TV broadcasters, telecom companies, data and broadband internet service providers and government organisations.
• Dr Mohammad Riaz Suddle Director of SUPARCO says that Pakistan’s new communication satellite would be launched on August 14, 2011.
• Pakistan Space Agency (SUPARCO) to launch 3 satellites in 3 years – Paksat-1R and Pakistan Remote Sensing Satellite (PRSS) – would be launched in the near future
• Dr A.Q. Khan’s reported statement in March 2001, in which he had claimed that Pakistani scientists were in the process of building the country’s first SLV and that the project had been assigned to Suparco.
• Reports quoting credible sources said that Pakistan is also working on development of Satellite Launch Vehicles (SLVs), basing their assumption on Pakistan’s success in developing intermediate range ballistic missiles.
• Pakistani defense based on missile nuclear deterrent. Hatf, Shaheen, Ghauri, Babar and Abdali are far more advanced then previously thought

Cloaked in absolute secrecy, missile development in Pakistan began in the ’80s. To diversify its technological base, Pakistan uses domestic competition between its local vedorsto come up withthe best product. Since the late 1980s and early 1990s, Pakistan has invested in both solid-motor and liquid-engine ballistic missile programs.

“Pakistan’s reasons for investing in both solid- and liquid-propulsion technologies remain unclear. However, analysts speculate the rival programs could be the result of intra-institutional rivalry and one-upmanship between the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) and Khan Research Laboratories (KRL), which have historically feuded over control and credits for Pakistan nuclear weapons-related efforts. This rivalry may have also carried over to the development of nuclear delivery systems. Furthermore, the diversification effort could also be viewed as a proactive attempt on the part of Pakistan’s military to factor in possible bottlenecks or failure along one technological front, as well as an attempt to diversify suppliers in the face of U.S. efforts to restrict the international trade in weapons of mass destruction-capable ballistic and cruise missile technologies. “Source: NTI

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