[Satellite TODAY Insider 10-21-10] Paksat and China Great Wall Industry Corp. will launch the Paksat-1R satellite next year, Pakistani Ambassador Shaharyar Khan confirmed in a statement issued Oct. 20.
    Paksat set up its Pasksat-1R joint satellite communication project with China’s state-owned company in 2008. The satellite, under development by China Great Wall and Thales Alenia Space in China, will replace the seven-year-old Paksat-1, stationed at 38 degrees East. Paksat-1R will be equipped with 18 Ku-band and 16 C-band transponders specifically designed to offer broadcasting and DTH as well as backhaul services, Internet trunking and data services within South Asia, Middle East, Africa and Europe.
    In the statement, Khan hailed Pakistan’s partnership with China as a milestone for international civil space cooperation. “Through its in-orbit delivery services, commercial launch services, and aerospace technology applications, [China Great Wall] promotes international cooperation with Asia, Africa [and] Latin America as well as all the other continents of the world. Its effort will help harness the resources of space and outer space for the common good of humanity.”
    In an interview in September with Satellite TODAY Insider, Paksat CEO Usman Bajwa said the new satellite will help ease the burden on Paksat-1 to help Pakistan recover from catastrophic flooding while also establishing a DTH service in the country.
    Paksat-1R is the first of many new spacecraft to come, he said. “We have a national satellite development program under which Pakistan plans to launch a number of satellites. Paksat-1R is going to be the first in a series of such satellites that we are planning to launch. I would not want to put a specific figure on the number of satellites we might launch, but it could be three or more.”

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