64th Independence Day: Pakistan to launch satellite

Paksat-1R will facilitate tele-education and tele-medicine services.

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan will launch its first indigenously developed communications satellite on August 14, 2011, from a facility in China. The lifespan of the satellite is expected to be 15 years.

According to officials in the Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (Suparco), the satellite would be launched at a longitude of 38 degrees in geostationary orbit on the equatorial plane at an altitude of 36,000 kilometres above the earth’s surface.

The satellite, named 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 this satellite was signed between Suparco and China Great Wall Industry Corporation (CGWIC), on October 15, 2008. Work on the execution of the contract began soon after and is progressing as scheduled, officials said, adding that the contract involves various other projects and hence it is difficult to ascertain the exact cost of the satellite.

Officials said that another satellite named Pakistan Remote Sensing Satellite (PRSS) will also be launched in the near future.

The satellites have been developed with technical and financial assistance from China. At present, Pakistan has a communications satellite – Paksat-1 – in orbit, which is being used by TV broadcasters, telecom companies, data and broadband internet service providers and government organisations.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 28^th, 2010.