You See As a outsider, just check the the past All the major developments occurred in Pakistanis are in those khakis time
and every time democracy came it only Pakistan faced only Problem huge setbacks Economy crisis
Lol; you are entitled to believe in whatever you wish to believe in, The facts are at a variance.......
About SUPARCO, specifically-----the following is very clear about the role that the Khakis played in and with SUPRARCO:
Lagging Behind: 2040- Pakistan's Space Od(D)yssey.
Karachi
Fifty years ago, Pakistan’s only Nobel laureate Dr Abdus Salam conceived the idea of the country’s first space research programme and national space agency in 1961.
However, despite getting a head start, Pakistan today lags far behind in the space race.
Today, the only big achievement that Pakistan can boast of is the successful launch of its first fully functional communication satellite, the Paksat-1R, whose first anniversary comes this August 12, 2012.
But this satellite too was not indigenously built. The Paksat-1R’s design, built, launch and even funding was done by China; only a few components in it were built by our engineers.
India on the other hand has been able to launch around 60 satellites to date. Its space agency, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), began operations in 1969. It has even managed to launch its own unmanned lunar probe, the Chandrayaan-1, into orbit in 2008.
So where did we go so wrong in our space programme?
Heads of the organizations
One of the main differences between India and Pakistan’s space agencies is that while one is headed by scientists, the other is currently headed by retired army generals.
The space agency of Pakistan too initially was headed by scientists and many prominent names, including the eminent Dr Salam had a significant role.
But for the last eleven years, Suparco has been headed by retired Pakistan Army major generals.
The last civilian scientist to have headed Suparco was Dr Abdul Majid, who initiated the Badr-series of satellite development programmes, planned the Paksat communication satellite system and satellite launch vehicle projects.
On his retirement in April 2001, Majid handed over charge to Major General (retd) Raza Hussain, whose tenure lasted till August, 2010.
Since then the Suparco fort is being held by Major General (retd) Ahmed Bilal.
On the other hand, India’s ISRO has throughout its history been manned by scientists.
Between 2001 and now, India has managed to launch more than 30 satellites. Pakistan for the same period managed only two satellites, including the Paksat-1, which was an acquired dysfunctional satellite and the current full fledged communication satellite Paksat-1R launched by China in 2011.
Early years
It was on Dr Salam’s advice that a Space Sciences Research Wing of the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission was established through the president’s executive order in 16 September, 1961. Later, this wing became the Pakistan Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (SUPARCO) in 1964.
To understand the significance of Salam’s forward thinking, who was then the scientific advisor to President Ayub, one has to take into account the fact that the world’s first satellite Sputnik-1 was launched just recently in 1957 by Russia and the US was yet to plant its first man on the moon in 1969.
Suparco scientists share a story that Salam had called a meeting at the Pakistan embassy in Washington DC in 1960 of two PAEC scientists, Dr Salim Mehmud and Tariq Mustafa, who were studying abroad.
Salam had revealed to the two that the Pakistan government had approved a classified mission to begin its own indigenous space research programme. He advised the two young scientists to move ahead from their nuclear engineering studies, and join NASA to study rocket science.
NASA, during those years, was in a race to implement the vision of US president John F. Kennedy to put an American on the moon. But before they could do this, they needed to study the earth’s upper atmosphere in detail.
In this connection, they had invited Pakistan apart from other countries to participate in their project. NASA provided the two scientists with rocket components to take back home and necessary training and support on the condition that the data from their experiments would be shared with them.
It was in this connection that the Rahber series of rockets were launched from Sonmiani Rocket Range in June, 1962 that conducted experiments on the Earth’s atmosphere at a height of 130 kilometers. Later, the Shahper series was also launched that conducted experiments at a height of 150kms above the surface of earth.
Also, in the 60s, a Doppler radar tracking station was established in the country as part of a global network.
New facilities and labs were set up that received Spanish beacon satellites, and feeds from an application satellite that had been relocated in 1975 by Nasa over the Indian ocean for one year.
This was also the same period when the Apollo 17 American astronauts Eugene A. Cernan (Commander), Ronald E. Evans (Command Module Pilot) and Harrison H. Schmitt (Lunar Module Pilot) landed in Karachi and visited various parts of Pakistan from June 17 till June 19, 1973 amid great fanfare, including a motorcade through the city enroute to the University of Karachi. They even met with President Zulfikar Ali Bhutto apart from various Suparco scientists.
Also, it was during the 70s that the Islamabad Ionospheric Station within Quaid-e-Azam Univeristy was set up and in 1976, the NASA Landsat ground station was established near Rawat.
Everything, it seemed, was moving in the right direction, until the 80s came and the Afghan jihad began.
Suparco under Zia’s regime
After General Zia usurped power, he appointed the eminent scientist Salim Mehmud as Chief Executive Officer of Suparco and asked him to submit necessary recommendations for upgrading the organsation’s status. Later, Mehmud was appointed as the first Chairman Suparco on 22 April 1981.
Zia then promulgated the Suparco Ordinance No. XX of 1981, which granted the body an autonomous status.
During the same period, the communication satellite project called Paksat was initiated in 1981.
A leading scientist told the Express Tribune that back then, the idea was to launch a satellite that could stage a ‘cultural counter attack’ on India with the influx of new Pakistani TV channels.
Also, a 10-meter diameter satellite ground station for interception of satellite transmissions was set up in 1983 that was mainly designed against India.
However, when Gen Zia visited the Suparco headquarters in 1984, he announced an abrupt end to the Paksat project because of a lack of funds.
It was during this period that many scientists associated with Suparco left the organization when funds were freezed and there was no innovative work to do. The lack of funds would continue till late 90s.
Satellite mystery
Some scientists, however, refused to quit and carried on. It was during this period that two ground stations in Karachi and Lahore were set up in 1986 in preparation for the launch of Badr-1, which was an experimental low earth orbiting satellite.
It was eventually launched on 16 July 1990 from China using the Long March 2E launcher and completed its designed life for around 35 days.
The country’s second satellite Badr-B was then launched after much delay on 10 Dec 2001 from the Baikonour Cosmodrome, Kazakistan.
An insider within Suparco says that to this day no one knows what exactly happened to the satellite when contact was lost with it. The cause was never fully investigated.
Expired orbital slots
When Pakistan failed to launch its Paksat satellites, the two orbital slots 38 E longitude and 41 E longitude acquired for it in the Geo Synchronous Orbit expired in 1994.
A new application for the allocation of five GSo slots (38E, 41E, 30E, 88E and 101E) was filed. Although granted, Pakistan faced the risk of losing its priority 38 E slot, if it didn’t launch its own satellite by April 2003.
In December 2002, Pakistan acquired a satellite from the American satellite-building firm Hughes Global Systems (HGS) at a cost of around five million dollars as a stop gap arrangement.
HGS had designed the satellite for Indonesia as Palpa C1, but after a battery problem occurred making it usless during certain hours of the day, it was first handed over to Greece, then Turkey as Anatolia-1 and later was sold to Pakistan as Paksat-1.
Later, General Musharraf would claim that “Pakistan’s space programme is now ahead of India after the formal launching of Paksat-I and this is due to the hard work of our scientists.”
Suparco’s Vision 2040
The communication satellite Paksat-1R was launched on August 11,2011 from China. PHOTO: SUPARCO
Suparco chairman Ahmed Bilal in an interview with the Express Tribune had said that Pakistani scientists were ‘on a learning curve’ which was why they chose to ‘fast forward’ their expertise with the help of Chinese for the design, launch and building of Paksat-1R.
However, he clarified that there were at least nine components in the satellite that were built by our own engineers. Also, he said that China had given a soft loan for Paksat-1R, whereas all the cost of the ground control facilities within Pakistan were borne by the government of Pakistan.
Bilal had declined to say much about the history and past episodes of Suparco except that “Yes, mistakes were made in the past, but we have to move ahead.”
When asked about the Vision 2040 programme that was approved by the ousted prime minister Gilani in January 2012, he said: “we should be able to make, produce and launch our own satellite [in the future]. That is our hallmark [sic]. Making will come early, launching will come later.”
He said the Paksat-1R has a life span of 15 years and his suggestion was to have another communication satellite in space by 2021. “National demands will dictate the number of satellites the country needs,” he said.
He said that Pakistan should have at least three remote sensing satellites that should be launched every three years.
“We will be focusing on different types of remote sensing satellites and their applications in the next seven-eight years.”
But the question is, while our vision is limited to eventually building and launching our own satellite, wouldn’t the world be way far ahead like sending a manned mission to another galaxy by 2040? What will we do then?
This story was first published in The Express Tribune on August 1st, 2012
Link:Salman Siddiqui » Lagging behind: 2040 – Pakistan’s space od[d]yssey
Our knowledgeable colleague here; Oscar has also explained some of the SUPARCO related issues.
