HS-1 Satellite: Pakistan's Eye in the Sky

HS-1 is Pakistan's first hyper-spectral  satellite which is equipped with advanced hyperspectral imaging sensors capable of capturing data across hundreds of narrow spectral bands.  The satellite lifted off from China’s Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center on a Kinetica-1 rocket. It is expected to boost Pakistan's national capacities in areas such as precision agriculture, environmental monitoring, urban planning, and disaster management. Its high-resolution data will support improved resource management and strengthen Pakistan’s resilience to climate-related challenges. 


Though the HS-1 satellite is primarily aimed at civilian applications, it will also have significant intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) capability for military applications. It is much more advanced than Pakistan's PRSS-1 satellite launched in 2018 which senses objects on earth in the optical RGB (Red-Green-Blue) range. The HS-1's high-resolution data will support improved resource management and assist the Pakistani military's efforts to monitor events on the ground. 

In addition to the HS-1 satellite, Pakistan has signed a $406 million deal with China’s PIESAT for a constellation of over 20 imaging and communication satellites, a move that signals a profound shift in its strategic posture, according to defense site Quwa.  The deal includes a full transfer-of-technology (ToT) for in-country satellite manufacturing. It is poised to provide the Pakistani military with a sovereign, persistent imaging intelligence (IMINT) capability. Here's an excerpt from the Quwa website: 

"While PIESAT’s official data states a resolution of 0.5 meters, Chinese media reports indicate a larger 54-satellite version of the constellation could achieve a global revisit rate of just 60 minutes. For Pakistan, its initial 20-satellite acquisition implies a clear intent to establish a persistent regional surveillance net with revisit rates well under one day, fundamentally changing its ability to monitor adversary movements". 

Space science is a lot more than rocket science. It goes well beyond building booster rockets for satellite launches. It includes various fields like physics, astronomy, biology, chemistry, and engineering to study phenomena in space and collect and analyze data about activities on earth.  Pakistan-China space cooperation is yet another confirmation of the close and growing scientific ties between the two countries. Tens of thousands of Pakistani students are currently attending Chinese universities which are among the best in the world. Thousands of Pakistani engineers and scientists are closely working with their Chinese counterparts on multiple projects. It is a great opportunity for Pakistanis to learn from astounding scientific and technological achievements of their Chinese counterparts. 

Chinese researchers dominate global AI research, according to Marco Polo which tracks global AI talent. China dominates the top 10 science institutions, with the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) and Tsinghua University taking the top three spots, according to the Science Journal Nature. Only two non-Chinese institutions broke into the top 10 – the Max Planck Society in Germany at No 4 and the French National Center for Scientific Research at No 10. The top three US institutions – the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Harvard University and Stanford University – were ranked at 13th, 16th and 20th, respectively.

Analysts believe that China's real focus is on industrial applications for Artificial Intelligence (AI) rather than chatbots like ChatGPT or DeepSeek. Chinese are working to use the underlying technology to develop affordable, commercially viable business solutions, according to Jacob Dreyer who recently wrote an article for science journal Nature. "Its applications can then be exported, especially to lower-income countries. In other words, China’s target is not necessarily ‘frontier AI’, but ‘mass-market AI’. Its emerging AI playbook mirrors its approach to other technologies, such as electric vehicles and clean energy: not the first to innovate, but the first to make them affordable for widespread use". 


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