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KARACHI:The inaugural ceremony of World Space Week (WSW)-2011, organized by Pakistan Space & Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (Suparco), was held on Tuesday, 04 Oct 2011 at National Center for Remote Sensing & Geo Informatics (NCRG) Suparco HQs, Karachi.
Prof. Dr Muhammad Qaisar, Vice Chancellor, Federal Urdu University was the chief guest of the ceremony. He formally inaugurated the WSW celebrations.
Member Space Technology, Suparco, Dr Sajid Mirza, in his welcome address said that the WSW celebrations are in fact the manifestation of human efforts in the domain of space exploration and its impact on humanity.
He said that Suparco has been actively promoting uses of space sciences and technology for the socio-economic uplift of the country. In this regard Suparco has successfully launched its first communication satellite PAKSAT 1R in collaboration with China which provides broadband Internet, emergency communication, telemedicine and tele-education services to countries in Europe, East Africa, the Middle East, South Asia, Central Asia and China.
The chief guest of the ceremony, Dr Muhammad Qaisar congratulated Suparco on completing its 50 years of service to the nation in the fields of space science and technology. He said that in order to draw optimum benefit through space and related technologies, particularly in countries like Pakistan, there is a strong need to develop human resources, create awareness, disseminate knowledge, impart education and motivate the youth to conceive and develop space applications to serve humanity.
After the formal inauguration, a specially designed education bus equipped with multimedia left for interior Sindh. The bus will visit schools in small towns and villages of Sindh to create awareness through lectures, multimedia presentations and video shows from 5-8 October 2011.
The ceremony was followed by a seminar on the theme of World Space Week 2011 “50 Years of Human Spaceflight ".
