Pakistan's maiden lunar orbiter sends first images

Islamabad: Pakistan's maiden lunar orbiter sent the first images of the sun and the moon, days after it was launched as part of China’s moon mission, it was announced on Friday.

Pakistan’s mini satellite ‘iCube-Qamar’ was launched as part of China’s Chang’e-6 lunar mission on May 3 from the Hainan province.

The images were unveiled at a ceremony organised at the China National Space Agency (CNSA) to mark the successful mission, Maria Tariq, spokesperson of Pakistan’s national space agency Suparco, told Dawn.com.

She said that pictures were officially handed over to Pakistan’s ambassador to China, Khalil Hashmi, at the data handover ceremony in Beijing.

At 16:14 PKT (1:44 pm IST) on May 8, the Pakistani CubeSat, one of the international payloads carried by the Chang'e-6 mission, “separated from the orbiter near the far moon point of the 12-hour large elliptical orbit around the moon, and then successfully captured the first image.

Pakistan’s CubeSat project achieved the set goal of ‘successfully separating and obtaining telemetry’ and achieved complete success,” the CNSA announcement said.

The first image showed the sun as a bright spotlight; the second was that of a sparkling half moon while the third image showed the moon on the left and the sun on the right, according to images shared by CNSA online.

The module was designed by Islamabad’s Institute of Space Technology (IST) in collaboration with China’s Shanghai University (SJTU) and Suparco. It carries two optical cameras to capture the lunar surface.

The cube satellite or cubesat is a miniature satellite typically characterised by its small size and standardised cubic design. They help to collect valuable data for scientific advancement and innovation.

Pakistan got the opportunity to launch the lunar orbiter after it was offered by the CNSA through the Asia Pacific Space Cooperation Organisation (APSCO) to become part of the Chang’e-6 mission.

Meanwhile, the news of the first lunar orbit sending back images has infused a sense of pride in the country beset with daunting economic and security challenges. The social media was full of posts with almost all of them sharing images with messages full of pride.