Pak-China space cooperation strengthening over passage of time
Between May 2024 and July 2025, Pakistan’s space program accelerated
faster than at any point since the launch of Rehbar-I in 1962. What
once seemed symbolic has become practical, with four satellite launches under
the National Space Program 2047
marking a historic shift. As Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal noted: “Pakistan’s
advancements in space are no longer symbolic; they are functional, practical,
and central to national development strategy.”
Reaching new orbits
In just over a year, Pakistan:
·
Expanded broadband
capacity with the geostationary PakSAT-MM1, launched from
China’s Xichang Satellite Launch Centre.
·
Strengthened
geospatial sovereignty with two indigenous low-earth-orbit satellites:
PRSC-EO1 (electro-optical) and PRSC-S1 (synthetic aperture radar).
·
Ventured into deep
space with iCube-Qamar, a CubeSat carried aboard China’s Chang’e
6, placing Pakistan in lunar orbit for the first time.
Read More Pakistan
delegation visits China’s Deep Space Exploration Lab
These satellites are more than milestones—they address urgent domestic needs. PakSAT-MM1 will help bridge Pakistan’s digital divide. PRSC-EO1 aids precision farming, irrigation, and urban planning. PRSC-S1, capable of penetrating cloud cover and darkness, will be critical for early flood warnings, glacier monitoring, post-disaster assessments, and geohazard mapping in a country acutely vulnerable to climate change.
Strategic depth with China
Pakistan’s partnership with China has compressed decades of capacity
development into a handful of years. By working on iCube-Qamar,
Pakistani engineers gained direct experience in deep-space mission design.
Looking ahead, Pakistan is expected to co-develop a lunar rover for China’s Chang’e 2028 mission, while
Pakistani astronauts will join Chinese crews on the Tiangong space station next year—the
first foreigners to do so.
Read More Pakistan
signs agreement with China to send first Pakistani astronaut to space
Critics frame this as dependency, but Islamabad’s approach is dual-track: leveraging China’s lift capabilities while investing in homegrown talent, ground systems, and data analytics. As one official put it, “Chinese boosters may be providing the lift, but the navigation system is Pakistani.”
Building capacity at home
For Pakistan’s space ambitions to endure, indigenous expertise must become
the rule, not the exception. That requires:
·
Expanding space science
programs at local universities.
·
Supporting PhD training
abroad.
·
Sustaining innovation hubs
like the National Aerospace Science
and Technology Parks (NASTPs).
·
Incentivizing
private-sector involvement through a “Space-as-a-Service” model, where firms
partner with SUPARCO and government institutions to deliver actionable
results—such as faster flood warnings or mapped hectares—rather than just raw
satellite data.
Such a framework would allow Pakistan’s space industry to become both
revenue-generating and service-oriented, providing value to telecoms, banks,
insurers, and public authorities alike.
Read More Pakistan
to commence satellite launches in the coming years
Looking ahead
By the next decade, when Pakistan’s lunar rover transmits its first images
of the Moon, today’s advances will be remembered not as isolated achievements
but as deliberate steps in a long-term strategy—one that blends Chinese
collaboration with domestic capability, and ambition with execution.
The challenge now lies in maintaining this momentum against the
gravitational pull of fiscal limits and underinvestment in aerospace education
and industry. Pakistan has finally lifted off; the question is whether it can
keep ascending.
Source: The News