China announced plans on Friday to expand its space cooperation with Pakistan, including the establishment of a space center and the launch of additional satellites for the all-weather partner.
Pakistan is mentioned several times in a State Council or Central Cabinet white paper titled “China’s Space Program, A 2021 Perspective,” which outlines future expansion plans for China’s expanding space sector, which has successfully conducted missions to the Moon and Mars.
China will “give priority to developing communications satellites for Pakistan and to cooperating on the construction of the Pakistan Space Centre”, the white paper said.
China is presently constructing its own space station, which should be completed this year.
China assisted Pakistan in the launch of two satellites in 2018, PRSS-1, Pakistan’s first optical remote sensing satellite, and PakTES-1A, a smaller observation vessel.
In 2019, the two countries signed a space exploration deal, ushering in a new era of space science collaboration between the close allies.
China completed the in-orbit delivery of the Pakistan Remote-Sensing Satellite (PRSS-1), Venezuelan Remote-Sensing Satellite (VRSS-2), Sudan Remote-Sensing Satellite (SRSS-1), and Algerian Communications Satellite, according to a white paper released on Friday (Alcomsat-1).
Many countries, including Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Argentina, Brazil, Canada, and Luxembourg, have used China’s satellite carrying or launch services.
According to the white paper, China has collaborated on space products and technology with countries such as Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Argentina, Pakistan, and Nigeria.
Beijing will push forward with the development and deployment of the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) remote sensing satellite constellation, according to the statement.
China will conduct more space science exploration in the next five years, according to the white paper, and will continue to research and build programs such as the satellite for space gravitational wave detection and the sophisticated space-based solar observatory.
To read our blog on “Russia intends to create weather satellites for Pakistan,” click here.
