KARACHI, Aug 19: Suparco chairman Raza Hussain said on Monday that country’s only space agency has been endeavouring to promote peaceful use of space science and space technology in Pakistan for the socio- economic uplift of the people.
“For scientific research in a developing country like Pakistan, it is imperative that it should aim at solving problems of significance to the national economy”, he said while speaking at a seminar on “Atmospheric and Ionospheric Physics (AiP) held here under the auspices of Suparco.
Elucidating persistent accomplishments of Suparco, he said its applications and programmes cover satellite communication, satellite meteorology, remote-sensing for earth, resources and environmental studies, atmospheric pollution monitoring, ionospheric research, geomagnetism, geodesy, astronomy, instrumentation, establishment of ground-receiving and tracking stations.
“Besides a sophisticated satellite ground station (SGS) is also being operated at Islamabad since 1989 for acquisition and processing of remote-sensing satellite data. Suparco has extensive interaction with national and international agencies, especially in the context of various research and applications activities”, he added.
He reminded that we are living in the space age and we are increasingly relying upon space technology for fulfilling many of our day- to- day needs in areas of communication, natural resource exploitation and information relating to environmental conditions.
“The space applications have provided mankind with a range of services, such as long distance telephony, telex, global TV and radio transmission, acquisition and transmission of scientific data, weather forecasting, navigation and many others”.
“In fact, these satellite-based services have become so routine and commonplace that a world devoid of these would be difficult to imagine, he pointed out”.
According to him, there is no dearth of talent in our country as Pakistani scientists and engineers have done their best to bring laurels to their country in various specialized fields, including agriculture, industry, space technology, medicine and nuclear power generation.
“However, the foremost task which needs to be accorded priority is creation of linkages in science and technology and industry to give boost to the economy of the country.”
Earlier in his welcome address, member science and research Abdul Ghafoor said during this modern era, the space science and technology programmes are no more than a luxury but a prerequisite as the space technology is impinging upon our daily lives in multiple ways which includes satellite television and telephone service, pocket calculators, digital watches, micro-computer intricate medical diagnostic equipment and detection and better management of natural resources are some of the examples.
He said that field of atmospheric and ionospheric studies have grown rapidly if judged by the output of written reports and papers in the 20th century.
“A major stimulus to this growth has been the information requirement of new technologies and it is ostensibly true to say that the initial boost to atmospheric and ionospheric research arose owing to reliable predictions were needed for weather conditions and for high frequency (HF) radio communications”.
Later in different scientific sessions, 30 researchers presented their papers on atmospheric physics, ionospheric research, HF communication, geomagnetism and earthquake.—PPI
