ISLAMABAD: China has decided to provide one billion yuan to the Pakistan Space Centre project, and talks have been successfully completed.
The cabinet has approved a loan agreement with the Chinese government, a local TV reported on Tuesday.
China has already provided satellite carrying or launching services to countries like Saudi Arabia, Brazil, Canada, Argentina, and Luxembourg.
China cooperates in space product and technology fields with countries such as Ukraine, Belarus, Argentina, Russia, Pakistan, and Nigeria.
China’s space program
China has a very advanced space program directed by the China National Space Administration. It has overseen the development and launch of thousands of artificial satellites, ballistic missiles, an indigenous space station, and crewed spaceflight, and is working on plans to explore the Moon, Mars, and other celestials.
The technological roots of its space program trace back to the 1950s, when, with the support of the newly allied Soviet Union, China began manufacturing its first ballistic missile and rocket programs.
Driven by the successes of Soviet Sputnik One and American Explorer One satellite launches in 1957 and 1958, respectively, China launched its first satellite, Dong Fang Hong One, in April 1970 aboard a Long March One rocket making it the 5th country to place a satellite in orbit.
A year later, China started work on a crewed space mission but, under pressure from the Mao government’s Cultural Revolution on academics, it was shut down.
Then its resources were put into Fanhui Shi Weixing, China’s first reconnaissance satellite program, which had its first launch in November 1975.
Chinese first crewed space program started several decades later when an accelerated technological development program culminated in Yang Liwei’s successful 2003 flight aboard Shenzhou Five.
This achievement made China the 3rd country to send humans into space independently.
Today, China has one of the most advanced space programs in the world. It operates a satellite fleet with many navigations, remote sensing, communication, and scientific research satellites. With spacecraft reaching as far as Mars and the Moon, China has carried out many complex extraterrestrial exploration missions, including landing and sample return.
