Pakistan’s Nuclear Program and Space Research

/ Pak Study / By
  1. The first nuclear power plant (KANUPP) was set up at Karachi in 1970.
  2. The gross capacity of KANUPP is 137 MW.
  3. The Karachi Nuclear Power Plant (KANUPP) was inaugurated by President Z.A. Bhutto on November 28, 1972.
  4. Pakistan’s second nuclear power plant was set up at Chashma.
  5. The Chashma Nuclear Power Plant (CHASNUPP) went into commercial operation on September 25, 2000.
  6. The Abdul Qadeer Khan Nuclear Research Laboratories started functioning in 1971.
  7. Pakistan successfully conducted nuclear tests in Chagai (Balochistan) on May 28, 1998.
  8. The nuclear tests were measured 4.7 on the Richter scale.
  9. The Pakistan Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (SUPARCO) was set up in 1961.
  10. SUPARCO set up a satellite ground station (SGS) at Rawat, near Islamabad in 1989.
  11. In 1990, SUPARCO set up the Pakistan Mission Control Center (PMCC) at Karachi.
  12. The first experimental satellite Badr-I was launched on July 16, 1990.
  13. Badr-II was launched from Baikonur (Kazakhstan) on December 10, 2000.
  14. On June 7, 1993, Pakistan launched Rehbar-I for upper atmosphere research, becoming the third nation in Asia and the tenth in the world to conduct such a launch.
  15. The Hatf-1 missile was launched on February 5, 1989.
  16. The range of the Hatf-1 missile is 60 to 80 kilometers.
  17. Ghauri-I missile was launched on April 6, 1998.
  18. The range of the Ghauri-I missile is 1500 kilometers.

19. The Shaheen-I was launched on April 14, 1999.

20. The range of Shaheen-I is 600 kilometers.

21. The Aitzaz-III was launched on August 29, 2001.

22. The Bader-I missile was launched on January 5, 2001.

23. The name of Ghauri-III is Abdali.

24. The Pakistan Nuclear Regulatory Authority (PNRA) was formed on January 22, 2000.

25. The National Engineering and Scientific Commission (NESCOM) was established in 2002.

26. Prof. Dr. Abdul Salam, the first Pakistani scientist, received the Nobel Prize in 1979.

27. Pakistan carried out a successful flight of the short-range cruise missile Ra’ad (Hatf-VII) carrying both nuclear and conventional warheads on August 25, 2009.

28. The Ra’ad (Hatf-VII) has a range of 350 kilometers.

29. Pakistan successfully tested a new short-range surface-to-surface missile Hatf-IX (Nasr) on April 20, 2011.

30. The Hatf-IX (Nasr) has a range of 60 kilometers.

31. Pakistan successfully conducted a test of the surface-to-surface Hatf-II (Abdali) missile on May 27, 2002.

32. The Hatf-II (Abdali) has a range of 290 kilometers.

33. Pakistan Navy successfully test-fired new air-to-sea and air-to-air missiles on February 26, 2014.

34. Pakistan conducted a successful training launch of the short-range surface-to-surface ballistic missile Hatf-III (Ghaznavi) on May 26, 2002.  

35. The Hatf-III (Ghaznavi) has a range of 290 kilometers.

36. Pakistan’s first communication satellite PAKSAT-1R was launched on August 12, 2011.

37.    The service life of PAKSAT-1R is 15 years.

38.    The Chashma-II and Chashma-III will add 960 MW of electricity to the national grid.

39.    The design life of C-3 and C-4 is 60 years.

40.    The groundbreaking of K-2 and K-3 nuclear power plants was held on November 26, 2013.

41.    The combined capacity of K-2 and K-3 is 11000 MW of electricity.

42.    The National Command Authority (NCA) was established on February 2, 2000.

43.    Pakistan successfully tested a pilotless drone armed with laser-guided Barq missiles on March 13, 2011.

44.    Pakistan recently carried out the training launch of the surface-to-surface ballistic missile Hatf-IV on February 28, 2021.

45.    Hatf-IV has the capability of delivering nuclear and conventional warheads up to a range of 290 kilometers.