Pakistan's First Lunar Mission iCube Qamar Kicks Off With China's Successful Launch Of Chang'e-6 mission (Video)

Beijing: In a historic moment for Pakistan, icube qamar the countries first satellite mission to the moon has been launched into the space today. The satellite was developed by the team at the Institute of Space Technology (IST), in collaboration with Shanghai University SJTU and SUPARCO. This was a part of the bigger mission of China in which the country on May 3 launched a lunar probe mission to collect samples for the first time from the far side of the moon and bring them to Earth for scientific studies. The Chinese mission also carried Pakistan's miniature satellite ICUBE-QAMAR cubesat.

While Pakistan is celebrating the proud moment, a few netizens have reacted saying that they would have been even more proud if the mission was kicked off from Pakistan. @piracha_a said, "If it was launched from Pakistan itself then we could have different level of proudness."

As per a report of PTI, The Chang'e-6 53 day long Lunar mission is tasked with collecting and then returning samples from the moon's far side to Earth -- the first endeavour of its kind in the history of human lunar exploration, China National Space Administration (CNSA) said.

All about iCube Qamar

This is the first time that China has included an orbiter from its all-weather ally Pakistan in its moon mission.

According to reports from Pakistan quoting the Institute of Space Technology (IST), the satellite ICUBE-Q has been designed and developed by IST in collaboration with China's Shanghai University SJTU and Pakistan's national space agency Suparco. ICUBE-Q orbiter carries two optical cameras to image the lunar surface.

According to a report of Tribune, "ICUBE-Q will also collect data on the lunar magnetic field, establish a lunar magnetic field model, and hopefully, lay the groundwork for future missions and international lunar cooperation."

Published on: Friday, May 03, 2024, 04:47 PM IST