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Pakistan Plans 2nd Satellite Launch in March
posted: 10:48 am ET
24 November 1999
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Pakistan_launch_991124ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (Reuters) - Pakistan's second experimental satellite will be launched by a Russian rocket next March from Russia's space launching station in Kazakhstan, a Pakistani space scientist said Wednesday. Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission chairman Abdul Majid said the Badr-2 satellite would be launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome on a Zenit-2 rocket, the official APP news agency reported. "The main mission objectives of Badr-2 program include indigenous development of low-cost satellites and creation of necessary infrastructure for future development in this field," it quoted Majid as telling reporters at an international workshop in Islamabad on low-cost space missions. APP said the 154-pound Badr-2 was indigenously built and would have a life of two to three years in space. "Presently the satellite is undergoing integration tests with a Russian satellite in Moscow," it said without elaborating. Pakistan's first 1 satellite, Badr-1, was launched by a Chinese rocket in July 1990. Majid said Badr-1 had largely achieved its main objectives of evaluating indigenously designed hardware and software in space and providing "hands-on experience in telecommands and two-way communications between the ground control station and the spacecraft." "The experience and the confidence gained has been used to complete the second satellite ... ," he said. Majid said Pakistan would develop its own satellite-launching vehicle within three years to carry out environmental tests, and was planning to develop its own "Earth observation satellite" in two to three years.
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