This led to the establishment of Pakistan's Space Program which was the first of its type in the Muslim world as well as the developing world. Salam presented Tariqs report to President Ayub Khan for approval. NASA invited Tariq to visit their Wallops Island rocket range in Virginia in order to draw up program and plans for establishing a rocket range in Pakistan. Salam invited Tariq Mustafa a senior engineer of PAEC who was then at the Atomic Energy Laboratories of USAEC at Oakridge Tennessee, to join him in meetings at NASA headquarters in Washington DC. NASA realising the gaping hole in upper atmospheric data invited countries bordering the Indian Ocean to join NASA in setting up rocket ranges and carrying out rocket-borne investigations of the Upper Atmosphere by establishing rocket ranges to obtain such data. US was then embarked on their Apollo program to beat the Soviets to the Moon. Salam was accompanying President Ayub Khan on an official visit to USA on invitation of President John F. Since 1958, Nobel Laureate Abdus Salam had played a major and influential role in the development of Pakistan's science policy. The independent research in space sciences and aeronautical development was ensued and goaded by the senior physicists at the Department of Physics of the Punjab University, in 1957, following the successful launch of Soviet Union's first artificial satellite, the Sputnik 1 However, due to the political instability, the serious initiatives to establish the programme were not undertaken by the Government of Pakistan. Main article: Executive Committee of the Space Research Council 9.4 International collaboration and MoU.7.1 Revitalisation and research program of SUPARCO.6 Planetary sciences and scientific missions.5.1 Communication and geosynchronous satellites.1.5 2000s–2010s: Recent developments and revitalisation.1.4 1990s: Orbital slot crises and setbacks.1.3 1970s–1980s: Bureaucratization and reorganization.
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SUPARCO has faced criticism within in Pakistan for not being able to be up to its Chinese and Indian counterparts in terms of capabilities which have emerged as major space powers in recent decades. The agency now has been pursuing Space programme 2040 since 2011 with only aim to launch more and more satellites from other countries only. However, no further details on this program were ever revealed. SUPARCO imported and maintained small amount of rocket fuel for scientific research and announced in 1999 that it will introduce its own satellite and launch vehicles in three years. In the meantime, the space programme suffered many setbacks, difficulties, and problems that partly slowed the progress of the space programme. M-11 missiles were imported from China for security needs and a factory too was developed for manufacturing missiles with help of China. In early 80s, SUPARCO started to develop Hatf-I and Hatf-II missiles. SUPARCO played a significant role in development of Pakistan missiles. The country's first satellite, Badr-I, was built by the SUPARCO and launched from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center, China on July 16, 1990, which provided Pakistani scientists with valuable experience in telemetry and other satellite technologies. However, the agency kept a low profile for initial 30–35 years of its existence with limited progress in field of research and its progress in satellite technology also started relatively late. It started to import and launch sounding rockets in the early 1960s and attained capability to fabricate rocket motors. Įstablished in 1961 to assist development of space science and research in Pakistan, agency started to function only in 1964. It is headquartered at the capital city of Islamabad in the northern part of Pakistan with additional facilities at the University of Punjab in Lahore. The Space & Upper Atmosphere Research Commission ( SUPARCO) ( Urdu: خلائی و بالائے فضائی تحقیقاتی مأموریہ) is the executive and national space agency of Pakistan. "Strive to achieve self-reliance in space technology and applications for national security, economy and society."