China’s planned robotic exploration mission, “Chang’e 6,” will launch Pakistan’s historic lunar mission, ICUBE-Q, on Friday, May 3, from Hainan, China, according to an APP report.
The launch party will be broadcast live on the website and social media accounts of IST. When the mission returns to Earth, its goal is to gather lunar surface samples from the far side of the Moon for scientific analysis.
Pakistan’s national space agency SUPARCO and China’s Shanghai University SJTU worked together to design and develop the satellite ICUBE-Q.
The IST-developed CubeSat Satellite iCube-Q from Pakistan will be a part of the mission. CubeSats are small satellites that are important to scientific research, technology development, and space exploration education programs because of their standardized design and small size.
The participation of Pakistan in this lunar mission is a confirmation of its commitment to space exploration and its collaboration with China to achieve worldwide developments in scientific research and technological development.