March 6, 2004

PRESIDENT General Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali attended a briefing last week on Pakistan’s space programme.

The briefing, given by Suparco, highlighted the critical importance of exploitation and utilization of space for the socio-economic development of the country. It included recommendations on utilization of the Paksat-1 satellite, plans for the future development of Pakistan’s space- based capabilities and development of ground infrastructure and human resources for the optimum utilization of space. The president and prime minister supported Suparco’s endeavours and approved many proposals. The ministers for Finance, Information Technology and Telecom, Science and Technology and other senior government functionaries also attended the briefing.

As the NewScientist points out, Pakistan’s space programmes seems diminutive as compared to India’s. India has put satellites into geostationary orbit on its mighty GSLV rocket, and is keen to find a place among major space nations. Pakistan, by contrast, has only managed to put two indigenously-made satellites into orbit, riding on Chinese or Russian launches. The magazine admits that the Pakistan Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (Suparco) website is the best space research website of any developing country.
 

Impact of gas exploration

The Environmental Protection Agency, NWFP, has decided to hold a public hearing in the Karak district to get input from local people about any possible negative effects of the oil and gas exploration activity in the Terri Essak area, officials said.

A Hungarian oil company, MOL, is launching oil and gas exploration activities in Khumari village of the Terri Essak area. The company, which has also detected considerable gas reserves in the Gurguray area of the district Karak, has recently submitted an Environment Impact Assessment report to the EPA, NWFP, seeking approval before formally launching drilling operations, sources said.

“The EPA is reviewing the EIA conducted by an Islamabad-based consultant and a public hearing is also being arranged,” said an official of the provincial government.
 

VTV linked up to Paksat-1

VTV, the television network of the Virtual University of Pakistan, today became the first Pakistani educational television channel to be linked up to the country’s first communication satellite, Paksat-1.

Tajdar Alam, Managing Director, VTV while confirming the linkup said, “The results are of a high transmission quality and we are now ready for our test transmission.”

Dr Naveed A. Malik, Rector of the Virtual University of Pakistan said, “We will now be able to broadcast all of our courses in a high quality format all over Pakistan as well as overseas”. The Virtual University (VU) of Pakistan is a public sector university holding a Federal Charter.
 

Scientists to research abroad

Under a Higher Education Commission programme entitled “International Research Support Initiative” 70 PhD science scholars — 35 scholars each year for two years — from public-sector universities and degree-awarding institutions of Pakistan will conduct their research for six months at prominent universities abroad. — Dawn Sci-tech World Report

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