Pakistan Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (SUPARCO) is Pakistan’s national space agency and was established in 1961 as a committee and was granted the status of a Commission in 1981. SUPARCO is devoted to Research and Development work in Space Sciences and Space Technology and their applications for the peaceful uses of outer space. It works towards developing indigenous capabilities in space technology and to promote space applications for socio-economic uplift of the country.
Badr-1 (Badr-A) was Pakistan's first indigenously developed satellite and was launched from the Xichang Launch Center, China on July 16, 1990 aboard a Chinese Long March 2E rocket. Badr-1 weighed 150 pounds. Originally designed for a circular orbit at 250-300 miles altitude, Badr-1 actually was inserted by the Long March rocket into an elliptical orbit of 127-615 miles. The satellite successfully completed its designed life.
SUPARCO started building the small amateur radio satellite in late 1986 with support from the Pakistan Amateur Radio Society. The satellite was named Badr inspired from the Urdu language word for 'new moon'. Badr-1 was planned to be launched on the US Space Shuttle, but the 1986 Challenger explosion and consequent delay in American flights changed the plan.
Pakistan’s second satellite was BADR-B. It was an Earth Observation Satellite and was launched on 10 December 2001 on a Zenit 2 rocket from Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan. It was designed by Space Innovations Limited from the UK.
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