ISLAMABAD – The newly signed space exploration agreement between China andPakistan on manned space missions manifests their more profound cooperationon the peaceful use of outer space, experts said.
The agreement, marking that cooperation between the two neighbours in spaceexploration has entered a new phase, China Economic Net reported, quoting astatement issued by the China National Space Administration (CNSA).
The agreement inked during the recent visit of Prime Minister Imran Khanwill serve as a high-level foundation for cooperation in space science andexploration. Both nations will conduct scientific and technologicalexperiments, astronaut training, along with manned space applications andachievement transformation.
The CNSA and the Pakistan Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commissionwill establish a China-Pakistan space committee chaired by top officialsfrom both sides to address future collaborative issues.
Since Pakistan is China’s all-weather friend, China is willing to providethe know-how to foster Pakistan’s technological development on the use ofouter space, Lan Jianxue, said an associate research fellow at the ChinaInstitute of International Studies.
Read Top Stories
“China-Pakistan space cooperation will help Pakistan in terms of satellitemonitoring of natural disasters and agricultural production, land andresources surveying, and waste handling in a microgravity environment,”said Lan, adding that China will also benefit from the cooperation,including for commercial applications of space technology, investmentsecurity and counter-terrorism.
In 2018, China sent two Pakistan satellites into orbit. The PRSS-1,Pakistan’s first optical remote sensing satellite, and the PakTES-1A, asmaller observation craft, were both lifted into space by China’s LongMarch-2C carrier rocket.
