The SUPARCO Lag

In 1961 when our only Nobel laureate Dr. Abdus Salam and Commodore WJM Turowicz were busy laying down the foundations of SUPARCO, little they might have thought that 52 years later, the nation’s space agency would either, still be renting foreign built satellites or else hitchhiking on foreign rockets to launch indigenously built satellites into space. 

The beginnings of SUPARCO reflected the dreams and goals of its founders and the scientists involved. Frequent  rocket tests, collaborations with NASA regarding training of Pakistani scientists and engineers, and with keen government interest in the field,  one might have  had guessed that within a decade or two we would be sending our own satellites into space using indigenously built  rockets. But then Dr. Salam was shunned by the Pak government, collaborations with NASA stopped, government lost interest  and ever since that time SUPARCO seems to exist just because it has to, without any entrepreneurial zeal, devoid of innovation and lacking a clear cut direction. 

Currently, SUPARCO is undertaking programs relating to communication satellites, remote sensing, geo graphic information systems and space studies. It provides services in land surveying, crop monitoring, vehicle tracking systems etc. Its customer base is diverse; ranging from the Kutchi Abadi Authorities toPakistan Railways.  Also in its Space Program 2040-approved by Ex-Pm Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani- it plans on producing and launching its own satellites by the year 2040.

But is that it? Will our satellite system be only focused on crop monitoring, land surveys and tracking?  Where’s the vision in it?  The services that SUPARCO provides are a staple in any standard space agency-there is nothing special in that. Also, achieving indigenous satellite production and launch capabilities and that too by 2040 speaks volumes about the ‘vision’ that is set by SUPARCO. When right now, our neighboring countries are sending probes to mars and beyond, achieving the ability to develop and launching satellites by 2040 is just not enough! 

We have to realize that a well functioning space program is crucial to the development of a nation. From enriched baby food to solar panels used in homes, there have been many commercial spinoffs from the technologies that were originally intended to be used in space. Space Technology development does not only benefit one particular branch of science but is equally beneficial to an economy as well.  According to former NASA scientist, Scott Hubbard, for every 1 dollar invested in NASA projects $7-8 worth of goods are produced in the industry!

SUPARCO now has to take on a more active role and its vision 2040 should really be vision 2020. It has to work on increasing coordination with schools colleges and universities so that a crop of future engineers and scientists are motivated, and their skills honed. The government has to pay more attention to SUPARCO regarding its developmental projects. As Antoine St. Exupery once said, 

“If you want to build a ship, don't drum up people to collect wood and don't assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea”. 

Thus, the government along with SUPARCO should undertake initiatives to educate public about space sciences in a way that they understand in order to build popular support

Dear readers, Space programs not only satisfy human desire to explore the universe but also create thousands of jobs; jobs that are certainly not limited to engineering only but spill over to diverse fields, ranging from textiles to psychiatrics. 

The shambles in which European and USA economies are in right now means that the stage for the next space race would be set in Asia, aided and abetted by western companies who have the expertise but lack funding support from their respective governments. Indeed China and India are making significant progress in space exploration; the former is planning to send manned missions to the moon while the latter is sending a space probe to Mars by November. 

 The development of an ambitious space program would not only benefit Pakistan in the military field, but will also create an air of innovation and ideas that will cross-pollinate many separate scientific and business disciplines.  

Nevertheless, we face the daunting task of tackling our domestic terrorism and political issues in parallel to the development of a proper space program and that requires not only a visionary leadership but also entrepreneurs who are ready to propel us into the future.

This is not the time to lag behind. The next space race is ‘on’ in Asia and we have to be a part of it, otherwise we would be left very far behind, even farther than we are right now.

Aliens, Earthlings and the Universe

The next time you find yourself walking in the dark (power outage, grid down, headed towards robbing a house, escaping a rapist, running from the police etc) under the night sky, give a moment or two (depending on the time you have) to the sky above you and observe the shimmering points of light we call stars. Look at the moon and feel it’s cool light.  Look up and you might be unaware that you are looking through the window of planet earth’s sky, into the vast and eerily quiet universe, breathtaking in its beauty and menacingly destructive in its power. 

Before you look up, look down, feel the night breeze, hear the distant bark of a dog, meow of a cat, caw of a crow, sound of a truck trundling by, rustling of the leaves, feel the earth in motion around you, this conglomeration of ‘Beliebers’, neo Nazis, Muslims, Christians, Giants Fans, rocks, gases and liquids is a rocky planet, one of the two billion rocky planets which scientists estimate, are similar to ours. In the universe containing up 100 billion galaxies (and counting) the figure of earth like planet goes to trillions.

Now look up and think before resuming your walk that, there are a trillion or so planets out there, wouldn’t it be stupidly naïve to think that we are the only living beings who possess cognitive intelligence?  What if somebody out there, may be your age, might be looking up, at you, in the same way you are looking up at the night sky, in a random direction, may be that extra terrestrial ( alien) lies in that direction, both of you divided by the barriers of time and space. What if one day, one of those beings from another galaxy, got smart enough and devised a smart way to reach your planet. Then what would happen? What would befall your beliefs, which tell you about man being in the centre of the universe? The alien that will visit you might or might not believe in a higher deity at all. Its technology would be far far…I mean...far superior than ours and probably would be something that our minds can’t even come to grips with. Why?  Because it takes a civilization of an unimaginable power, intelligence to cross the vast intergalactic distances. It takes the light 2 million years from the nearest Andromeda galaxy to reach our planet Earth. 2 million years. 2 million years ago, the first species of apes from which us humans were to evolve appeared. So if you look up again turn your head to the north east of the sky and observe a certain compressed W pattern, the faint smudge of light on the right of the upper half of the W is your Andromeda  galaxy ( if you can’t find it , then don’t worry, most cant!).  But, bear this in mind, the light that is entering your eyes from that faint smudge of light is already two million years old, when the first of your ancestors were roaming the plains of Africa, shirtless, pant-less, headphones-less and iPod-less. Distances are vast; time is limitless, always ticking.

Coming back to our alien civilization and its assumed power, we would find this alien civilization doing scientific investigations on us in the same we do experiments on guinea pigs, rats and monkeys. The explanation of their behavior lies in our perception of whether it’s ok to conduct gruesome experiments on other living beings or not. May be the aliens who are visiting us regard us in the same way; we regard the ants or cock roaches. Perspective.

Now look around, you see that old woman, feeble on her legs, slowly crossing the road, see that unshaven 40-year-old man heading back home, bills and children’s fees on his mind, take a look at the coolly dressed teen heading to a friend’s house. Imagine how an alien arrival would affect them. When Christopher Columbus arrived in 1492 to Americas, the resulting visitation of Europeans nearly wiped off the native American-Indian tribes whose bodies didn’t have any sort of protection against the diseases that the Europeans carried with them, e.g. small pox. What diseases, what plagues would an alien visitation bring on earthlings? Ever wondered about that?

Now look at yourself and place yourself in the grand order of the universe. The ant eats a grain, the chicken eats the ant, you eat the chicken, you die, you become part of the soil, on which the grain grows and the whole process repeats itself until a giant asteroid smashes into earth and  strips it of all things living. Or what if an alien spaceship comes across our earth and destroys it not unlike ourselves destroying ant mounds or bird’s nests for no apparent reason other than fun. And all of this is just a minute event in the trillion of events happening in the universe. Nothing is special in this universe. Only if we are able to control the movements of the atoms, the spin of a galaxy, the explosion of a supernova, the movement of giant clusters of galaxies, then we can say that we might be something special. Might be.

But here we are, engaged in petty battles and schemes when we should be engaging in exploring the universe.  The modern age owes its existence to Columbus and his peer’s dedication to exploration.  And until and unless we find a way to restrain our incessant plotting and scheming against each other and set out to explore the worlds beyond our planet, then we might just usher ourselves into a new age of exploration an age of new scientific understanding, reason and cultural revolution.

Infinity and Beyond !

My following article appeared on Tribune Blogs on 19th Feb 2012. Thanks to my editor for choosing such a good title. my original title sucked :D

July 21, 1969 was seen by many as the culmination of man’s evolution from a cave-inhabiting savage to an astronaut. That landing on the moon owed more to the imagination overdrive of the Western civilization than the technological advancements of the time. Looking at it from a purely economic point of view, it would be safe to say that space programs around the world have introduced spin-off technologies that have actually sped up human technological evolution and had a major impact on our daily lives.

Now let us descend from the lofty heights of the western civilisation’s achieve

ments in space and have a look at our own space program. Having relatively encouraging beginnings, our national space program was the brain child of Dr Abdus Salaam and with our test two-stage space rocket firing on June 7, 1961, Pakistan became the third Asian country and the 10th in the world to achieve this milestone. And as time progressed, Pakistan launched a couple of satellites into space including Badr1, PakSat-1 and 1-R. Although it is commendable that we have at least a presence in space, our enthusiasm must not end here.

At present, it seems that SUPARCO, while functioning to meet standard requirements of remote sensing, mapping and satellite communications, is missing the fabled ‘spark’ that might make it an economic pillar of the country rather than being a docile space agency that relies on Chinese technology and launching sites .

It seems that the government, corporate institutions and the common people have not yet fully realised the importance of space sciences for a country’s economy. An effective and active space program can help boost a country’s economy in more ways than anticipated. There are uses of space technology in agriculture, medicine, GPS, and many other areas. The enriched baby food used today owes its origins to NASA, from back in the days of the Apollo missions. It doesn’t take an economist to realise that the spin offs from space missions like the Apollo missions have resulted in the growth of several multi-billion dollar industries from which the USA has benefited incredibly. Scott Hubbard, former NASA scientist, now working at Stanford University, notes that for every 1 dollar invested in NASA projects $7-8 worth of goods are produced in the industry. precious few satellites into space and renting already orbiting satellites ( like Pak Sat-1). Its budget is less than even Ukraine, Belgium or Iran’s space agencies and competition with India’s ISRO is hopelessly out of the question at the moment. Concerning space sciences, Karachi University’s space sciences

institute ISPA is suffering from neglect, so much so that the class rooms have broken light bulbs, the whole facility is running on generators and the only “powerful” telescope provided is malfunctioning and hopelessly obsolete – I wish that was an exaggeration.

The future of earthlings lies out there in space. Now, one might argue that Pakistan already has enough expenses on its plate without adding space exploration expenditures to the list. However, if we don’t catch up with the changing times then we might be left woefully behind. India has already sent an unmanned spacecraft to the moon and is on its way to becoming a major space power, leaving Pakistan to squabble with the US and Afghanistan over petty issues and countering home grown fundamentalism.

The question is not about whether Pakistan should takes giant leaps in advancing its space program but about whether Pakistan would be economically able to stand in the comity of nations. Is our entrepreneurial spirit so dead that we can’t even imagine the possibility of Pakistan’s space age? Recently I wrote a blog about putting a Pakistani on the

moon. Ludicrous though it sounds, the purpose of that article was to observe the imaginative power and the entrepreneurial zeal of my fellow Pakistani readers. Many blog sites in the Pakistani blogdom refused to even publish that (except for a couple). It makes me wonder if Jules Verne was denied publication rights to Journey to the Moon (a century before the Apollo missions) by the French, just because it was highly ludicrous. It is that imaginative power and spirit – not squabbling over vague religious doctrines – that propels nations to excel in economics, science and technology.

Currently the Pakistani space program comprises of:

- Satellite Development Program Remote Sensing & GIS Applications,

-Space Science,

- Core Technologies Development,

- International Cooperation & Infrastructure Development.

The satellites that are in operation are Pak Sat-1, Pak Sat1-R, and the Badr Series satellites. Suparco has planned to launch an optical imagery satellite soon and a high resolution remote sensing satellite by the year 2014. These plans are integrated within the Space Program 2040, whose purpo

If there is a time for Pakistan to make a giant leap then now is that time. With a stagnant space administration, lack of education and research in space sciences, if we can overcome the institutional barriers to stop us from succeeding there is nothing to stop our minds.se is to present the full benefits of space technology to the nation. As commendable as these steps may be, an active effort still has to be made to make the public aware of these achievements. A crop of scientists and engineers has to be cultivated so that the future growth of Pakistani space program is not moribund. Since Suparco is still dependent on Chinese and Russia

n technology to develop satellite, communication and launch systems, to launch a truly indigenous satellite and space vehicle efforts have to be made to promote s

pace technology in our schools, universities and colleges. If we can build sophisticated weapons of mass destruction, why not use the same technologies in areas of science and technology.

If Pakistan is to survive for a thousand years then the time for developing a comprehensive space exploration strategy is now!

Putting a Paki on the Moon

The soil that we tread on is a great witness to the evolution of humanity, from caves to the high-rise buildings of cold metal and hard brick. These sand particles and the pebbles have borne the footsteps of Prophets, Messiahs, Writers, Inventors, Conquerors and Philosophers. They have seen what we have not seen, for we the humans mostly tend to forget what we did in the past and what are we capable of doing.

As I tread on a small pebble strewn path near my university under the night sky, I look up at the crescent above me. It is comforting to feel earth’s closest space neighbor’s cool bluish light on me. As I look up, I can’t help but focus my eyes on a patch of moon where Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed. That first step on 20^th July 1969 was the epitome of USA’s advancement in science and technology. No other country has done it since the Apollo missions and it is unlikely to repeat that feat for another two or three decades.

Then a very crazy thought entered my head, but the thought was ridiculous, verging on blasphemous. I ignored it and continued my nighttime walk.

I came back and tried to forget what I had just thought but the thought somehow stuck. Then another thought came in. This one more ridiculous than the other. I laughed at it, this second thought was to write down and share the first thought that had come in my head. I told myself that if I ever write it down I would be branded as a “Lunatic” ( ah the irony of words).

But then my mind is like PM Gillani and my thoughts like Zardari. The former always succumbs to the pressure exerted by the latter. So here I am, penning out what I had thought that night.

Pakistan needs a Man on the Moon.

Now go on laugh, of course I can’t blame you, can I ? How can a nation suffering from electricity and gas shortages, strikes, war, death and destruction, who doesn’t (apparently) has money to build even a dam can ever EVER dare to hope to put a man in space let alone the moon. It seems like disrespect, mocking if you like, to the sufferings of a nation consisting of 180 million souls, 63% of whom fall under the age of 25 and where the literacy rate hovers somewhere around 50% and whose population still believes that Neil Armstrong really did hear Azan on the moon despite the fact that sound needs air to travel-And there’s no air on the moon!

But, just bear a few moments with me and imagine, what would it be like to have the Pakistani flag on the lunar surface. Wouldn’t it be exhilarating? Wouldn’t it be just a pleasure to show your passport on the airport and not have eyes brows raised but be greeted with a smile because you belong to a nation that had just conquered the moon from the Americans, to have the world label you as bold space entrepreneurs rather than as a nation of conservatives and blowhards. To think that the world would be a better place with the achievement of a crippled nation sending a man to the moon and ushering the world into a new space age seems like stuff from a Hollywood movie. But allow me to make an argument here. If a nation with a literacy rate of 50 % can make cruise missiles, a nation where a sewing needle is imported from China can make a nuclear device, a nation where half the population can’t even afford a computer, can boast world’s youngest Microsoft certified professionals, cannot build a rocket and lunar vehicle to take a man to the moon, I would say you are kidding me.

When we spend more than 43 billion dollars in fighting “our own people” for some nation thousands of miles away from us, when we spend more than 60 million dollars to help those affected by the war on terrorism, when our military budget increases with each passing year, where the security expenses of the PM and the President per annum alone surpass the 500,000 dollar figure and then you tell me we can’t afford to put a man on the moon. I say you sir are kidding me.

It is at times like these where nations can either rise or sink. Just like that tight ropewalker about to jump to safety after walking the whole length can either slip and fall or safely step on the ledge and take a bow, imagine Pakistan to be that tight ropewalker. Albeit, small, emaciated, starved, crippled and limping. I say costs don’t matter. What matters is the will of the people to leave a mark on history. That’s a common feeling that’s shared by people who believe in team effort, who believe that no matter what, obstacles can be overcome. Nations like these are powered by the almighty trinity of Youth, Intellectuals and Military. And believe you me. Pakistan has that. Just think, how much Pakistan can gain in technology when its every engineer would be involved in the lunar mission, imagine the number of technologies that would be introduced, the billions of foreign investment, new management practices, newly emerging centers of Pakistani economy, explosion of educational institutes, the flood of engineers and entrepreneurs, Pakistan would be changed forever and with it the South Asian region, or may be the whole world itself. Pakistan’s name would become a by word for heroism, adventurism , inspiration and motivation. When schoolchildren will read poems about the Pakistani mission to the moon rather than King Bruce and the Spider.

Imagine a day when every Sindhi, Balochi, Pashtun, Punjabi, Sunni, Shia, Barelvi, Ahmadi, Wahhabi, would be looking at that shiny sphere in the sky, as one single entity all thinking the same thing:

“Has it landed yet?”