A Pakistani astronaut is scheduled to be the first non-Chinese person to go to Tiangong, the Chinese Space Station, according to media reports. Last year, China put a Pakistani satellite ICUBE-Q aboard its historic Chiang’e 6 mission into the moon’s orbit, designed to retrieve samples from the little explored far side of the moon. Weeks later, Beijing put another Pakistani communication satellite into orbit. The two sides have also announced that China’s Chang’e 8 moon lander mission in 2028 will carry a Pakistani rover to explore the moon's surface.
Space science is a lot more than rocket science. It goes well beyond building booster rockets for satellite launches. It includes various fields like physics, astronomy, biology, chemistry, and engineering to study phenomena in space and collect and analyze data about activities on earth. Pakistan-China space cooperation is yet another confirmation of the close and growing scientific ties between the two countries. Tens of thousands of Pakistani students are currently attending Chinese universities which are among the best in the world. Thousands of Pakistani engineers and scientists are closely working with their Chinese counterparts on multiple projects. It is great opportunity for Pakistanis to learn from astounding scientific and technological achievements of their Chinese counterparts.
Chinese researchers dominate global AI research, according to Marco Polo which tracks global AI talent. China dominates the top 10 science institutions, with the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) and Tsinghua University taking the top three spots, according to the Science Journal Nature. Only two non-Chinese institutions broke into the top 10 – the Max Planck Society in Germany at No 4 and the French National Center for Scientific Research at No 10. The top three US institutions – the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Harvard University and Stanford University – were ranked at 13th, 16th and 20th, respectively.
Analysts believe that China's real focus is on industrial applications for Artificial Intelligence (AI) rather than chatbots like ChatGPT or DeepSeek. Chinese are working to use the underlying technology to develop affordable, commercially viable business solutions, according to Jacob Dreyer who recently wrote an article for science journal Nature. "Its applications can then be exported, especially to lower-income countries. In other words, China’s target is not necessarily ‘frontier AI’, but ‘mass-market AI’. Its emerging AI playbook mirrors its approach to other technologies, such as electric vehicles and clean energy: not the first to innovate, but the first to make them affordable for widespread use".
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11 comments:
Hitching a ride on someone else's rocket or spacecraft isn't a big deal really. These days anyone can make a trip to space if they have the money to buy a seat. For that reason, I would consider Rakesh Sharma's trip to Salyut 7 space station in 1984 and Shubhanshu Shukla's upcoming Axiom flight to ISS as equally inconsequential as well. The real challenge is to develop the capability for spaceflight on your own. As I have remarked in an earlier comment, Pakistan seems to be the only country in the world to have an active ballistic missile development program without an SLV. Pakistani rockets may have some geographical limitations in launching satellites into eastward low-inclination orbits due to the risk of the rocket overflying Indian territory, but it should be able to do high-inclination polar orbit launches towards the south which is often the preferred orbit for remote sensing satellites.
Vineeth: "Hitching a ride on someone else's rocket or spacecraft isn't a big deal really. These days anyone can make a trip to space if they have the money to buy a seat"
Space Science is a lot more than Rocket Science. It includes various fields like physics, astronomy, biology, chemistry, and engineering to study phenomena in space and collect data about activities on earth.
China-Pakistan cooperation is in space science, not just in rocket science.
Chinese rockets are carrying Pakistani satellites, rovers and humans who will perform scientific experiments in space as part of this broader collaboration.
It is yet another confirmation of the close and growing scientific ties between the two countries. Tens of thousands of Pakistani students are currently attending Chinese universities which are among the best in the world. Thousands of Pakistani engineers and scientists are closely working with their Chinese counterparts on multiple projects. It is great opportunity for Pakistanis to learn from astounding scientific and technological achievements of their Chinese counterparts.
"Chinese rockets are carrying Pakistani satellites, rovers and humans who will perform scientific experiments in space as part of this broader collaboration."
The point I am trying to make is that Pakistan is dependent on other countries to place its instruments or people in space. When a Pakistani rover eventually rolls on the lunar surface, it would have been taken and placed there by the Chinese. The rover would most likely communicate with the Pakistani scientists/engineers through China's spacecraft and ground stations. I'm not trying to gloat here that India managed to do all of this on its own, but just saying that for some reason Pakistan has so far not tried to utilize its ballistic missile technology for peaceful, constructive, scientific purposes. Pakistan has been too fixated on ballistic missiles and nukes to their own detriment (likely due to the overbearing influence of their military establishment on its space technology sector).
Dear Sir and team of this blog.
Mashallah it is a great news and we all Pakistanis are happy with this news. Sir but to be honest for how long Pakistan will remain dependent on China for its progress and development?
Since last 60 years SUPARCO( space agency of Pakistan) has not even designed and developed it's own launching vehicle or launching pad that could launch its rocket in space.
Also Sir has the government of Pakistan or SUPARCO shared the credentials and qualification of this person who will become the 1st pakistani astronaut to go into Space using the space craft of Chinese space agency?
Sir as far as I know or remember any astronaut irrespective of his nationality must be a scientist 1st .
And that scientist must have knowledge about astrophysics.
I am not sure who this person is and neither governnent of Pakistan is sharing any personal and academic details of this guy.
Thanks
Dear Sir
All these countries who have strong and stable space agencies with strong and prosperous space programs and space technology actually do share personal specially the academic backgrounds of the person whom they send as an astronaut in space.
We are all aware of who was Neil Arm Strong the 1st American astronaut who went to Moon and before that it was Russian space agency that sent it's astronaut in space.
Apollo mission of space from NASA was really famous and their are details and information available about all these astronauts who actually explored space and moon on NASA and it's record, and the universities from where they have studied, their details and academic record and history is listed on the websites of NASA and the universities from which they graduated.
Have you seen any details of this Pakistani person who is being sent as an astronaut in space on the official website of SUPARCO and any details about him specially his academic background from where he studied?
Ahmed: "Since last 60 years SUPARCO( space agency of Pakistan) has not even designed and developed it's own launching vehicle or launching pad that could launch its rocket in space."
It's no time for coulda shoulda woulda about a SUPARCO-built space vehicle. Pakistan should seize the opportunity to have its scientists and engineers work with the best and brightest Chinese space engineers and scientists.
As part of the agreement, China will select one Pakistani astronaut from a group trained under its space program. The selection process is expected to last about a year, during which candidates will undergo rigorous training in China.
The US has alleged that Pakistanis are working on a powerful rocket engines for ICBMs that could eventually hit the US. If it's true, then I see no reason why these powerful rockets couldn't be used for SLVs in the future.
"The US has alleged that Pakistanis are working on a powerful rocket engines for ICBMs that could eventually hit the US. If it's true, then I see no reason why these powerful rockets couldn't be used for SLVs in the future."
An SLV doesn't appear to be in Pakistan's space plans for now, atleast publicly. I remember that there was a model of a Pakistani SLV with 4 strapon boosters exhibited at the IDEAS expo back in 2002. I'm not sure if it meant to use solid or liquid propellant stages or if some serious study was done on it, but nothing further was heard about that concept since then.
By building larger solid motors for its missile program, Pakistan would have the essential building blocks to create a small solid-fuelled SLV, though they might need to work on a light and efficient upper stage (preferrably liquid-fuelled) to give the satellite the final kick to orbit. The payload mass that could be carried by such a rocket would likely be limited however - from a few tens of kilograms to a couple of hundred kilograms at most.
To loft heavier satellites, Pakistan would need to develop much larger solid propellant motors than it has at present, or develop/acquire large liquid propellant engines. ISRO has used solid motors for the first stages of its rockets until now due to its simplicity and cost benefits, while the more efficient liquid engines were used mostly for upper stages.
The following image depicts the relative sizes of ISRO's rockets and will give you a sense of the scaling of solid motors involved.
https://historicspacecraft.com/Diagrams/R/Indian_Rockets_RK2023.png
In the early 1990s, ISRO made a big leap in its solid motor sizes - from the 9 tonne, 1m diameter S-9 motor used as the first stage of SLV-3 to the 139 tonne, 2.8m diameter S-139 motor used in PSLV, enabling the low-earth orbit (LEO) payload to jump from 40-150 kg in SLV-3/ASLV to nearly 3,000 kg in the PSLV.
(The fact that the S-9 first stage of SLV-3 became the small strapon boosters you can see at the base of PSLV in the image would give you an idea how much bigger PSLV's core solid motor is.)
The LVM3 rocket (which launched the Chandrayaan-2/3 to the moon) has twin 3.2 diameter S-200 solid boosters weighing at 236 tonnes each serving as its first stage, and the rocket is capable of putting 8,000-10,000 kg to LEO.
Meanwhile, ISRO's small-satellite launcher SSLV uses an 87 tonne, 2m diameter solid motor for its first stage and the rocket can place upto 300-500 kg to LEO.
(Do take note that the sizes of first stage solid motors do not give an accurate picture of rocket's payload capability as the efficiency of upper stages counts as a key factor. While SLV-3 and ASLV were all-solid launch vehicles, PSLV/GSLV/LVM3 uses more efficient liquid and cryogenic engines in its upper stages to enhance their payload mass. As for SSLV, while mostly propelled by solid stages, the rocket uses a small liquid propellant 4th stage to give the satellites a final, precise injection to orbit.)
Coming back to missiles, I do not know the details of Shaheen-III's solid stages apart from that its stage diameter is 1.4m and that the missile weighs around 23-25 tonnes. Meanwhile, Agni-V uses 2m diameter solid motors and weighs 50-55 tonnes, and has often been claimed by DRDO as capable of putting micro-satellites weighing under a few hundred kilograms into LEO (provided they add an upper stage, that is).
Dear Sir
I don't think that all the officials in American specially President Trump administration has alleged that Pakistani engineers and technicians are working on powerful engines that could allow it to hit America.
It is only pro Israeli Americans and specially the Indian lobbies in America who must be trying to convience the President Trump and his administration to try to put pressure on Pakistani authorities to stop working on such engines that could allow it to hit America.
Salam Sir
According to Mr. Mushahid Hussain one of the most senior and neutral analysts from Pakistan who himself has worked in the US government as an internee and also has relations with some of the officials in US Congress has himself said that American government and Congress is actually like a market where people have right to influence the government policies and decisions.
The President of America is obviously powerful and strong candidate but he is not alone in making decisions for the country and it's policies but has to take input from other officials and advisors.
The Indian and Israeli lobbies also have strong influence in the politics of America.
Dear Sir
The question is that why would Pakistan even think of attacking America using it's powerful engine that would allow it to hit America?
Do you think American government is naive to an extent that they would think this way? Definitely their must be lobbies of India and Is real working at the backend that must be trying to wash brains of the current administration in the US government.
India (8.3%) is the second largest importer of arms over the last 5 years (2019-2024). Ukraine (8.8%) is first. Pakistan (4.6%) 4th, according to SIPRI.
India's arms imports mainly from Russia, France and Israel.
Ukraine's from US, Germany and Poland.
Pakistan's from China, Netherlands and Turkey
https://www.sipri.org/media/press-release/2025/ukraine-worlds-biggest-arms-importer-united-states-dominance-global-arms-exports-grows-russian
https://indianexpress.com/article/trending/top-10-listing/top-10-largest-arms-importing-countries-2020-2024-indias-position-revealed-9880245/
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Chinese arms made up 81 per cent of Pakistan’s weapons imports in the past five years, as Islamabad buys more advanced systems from its long-standing Asian defence partner, according to data from Swedish think tank SIPRI.
https://www.scmp.com/news/china/military/article/3302515/china-supplied-81-pakistans-arms-imports-past-5-years-sipri-says
That was up 7 percentage points from the previous five-year period to 2019, when 74 per cent of Pakistan’s arms imports came from China, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute database shows.
The boost comes amid a huge push in China to improve self-reliance in its defence industry – from aircraft carriers to sixth-generation fighter jets – which has also seen it expand the range of weapons it can offer to its strategic partners.
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“The apparent willingness of China to supply or at least talk about supplying some of its more advanced weapons to Pakistan shows China’s trust in Pakistan,” said Siemon Wezeman, a senior arms transfers researcher at SIPRI.
China has been Pakistan’s primary arms supplier since the 1990s. But Pakistan’s tensions with India – especially since a series of border skirmishes broke out in 2016 – have prompted Islamabad to increase defence spending, and that has drawn it closer to Beijing.
Beijing avoids formal alliances but Wezeman said it could be seen as “Pakistan’s only real ‘ally’, the only one to depend on when dealing with India”.
At the same time, Pakistan plays a similar role for Beijing and is “the only one that at this moment could give China a secure access to a base on the Indian Ocean and near the Middle East”.
In April last year, China launched the first of eight Hangor II submarines to be delivered to Pakistan in a deal worth around US$5 billion – one of the most valuable military contracts China has signed.
According to the SIPRI database, some of Pakistan’s key orders in the past five years include the country’s first spy ship, the Rizwan, more than 600 VT-4 battle tanks, and 36 J-10CE 4.5-generation fighters.
The first delivery of multirole J-10CE fighter jets arrived in Pakistan in 2022, adding to its JF-17 fighters – a backbone model that makes up the bulk of Pakistan’s fleet.
The fourth-generation JF-17 was jointly developed by Pakistan Aeronautical Complex and China’s Chengdu Aircraft Industry Group in a programme that dates back to 1999.
The Block III version of JF-17 – featuring an active electronically scanned array radar – was inducted by the Pakistan Air Force in 2023.
Song Zhongping, a military commentator and former PLA instructor, said China might also export its fifth-generation fighter jet, the J-35, “if Pakistan requests it”.
He said that since India was considering adding the American F-35 or Russian Su-57 fifth-generation fighter jets to its fleet, Pakistan was likely to be considering its options too.
China also delivered a range of surface-to-air missiles and defence systems to Pakistan between 2020 and 2024, according to SIPRI. They included a long-range HQ-9 system with around 70 missiles, some 200 medium-range LY-80s, and about 890 low-altitude portable FN-6 missiles.
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