Pakistan Regional Support Office

The Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (SUPARCO) of Pakistan and the United Nations Office of Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) signed the cooperation agreement on the establishment of a UN-SPIDER Regional Support Office (RSO) on the occasion of the 47th Scientific and Technical Subcommittee session on 12 February 2010.

In October 2014, SUPARCO, in cooperation with UN-SPIDER, elaborated and published the booklet "Effective use of Space-based information to monitor disasters and its impacts: Lessons Learnt from Floods in Pakistan" The booklet describes SUPARCO's experience in utilizing satellite data for floods in Pakistan, such as SPOT data or Aqua/Terra satellite data. This booklet specifically looks at the floods of 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013, and the lessons learnt from these experiences.

  • More than 100 engineers and scientists
  • More than 150 support staff

Infrastructure
Latest state of the art hardware & software available with high speed internet connectivity on 24/7 hours basis.

Facilities

  • National Centre for Remote Sensing & Geo-Informatics
  • Atmospheric Data Receiving and Processing Centre
  • COSPAS-SARSAT (Ground segment)
  • Training/courses Offered
  • MS Program in Remote Sensing (RS) and GIS.
  • Advance course in RS and GIS application
  • Hands-on training on the Integrated Search and Rescue software of COSPAS-SARSAT system
  • RS & GIS application in natural resource management
  • RS application and digital image processing
  • Programming for Web GIS
  • Training course on Geological Application on Remote Sensing
  • Hands-on training course on ArcGIS Software.
  • Training course on image processing using ERDAS Imagine Software
  • Satellite Ground Station for receiving data from LEO satellite with resolutions from 2.5 to 20 meters
  • Satellite Ground Station for receiving data from medium resolution such as MODIS instrument onboard Aqua/Terra satellites, AVHRR AMBUS, HIRS onboard NOAA series and FY2E, MTSAT from Geostationary satellite
  • Operation satellite based COSPAS- SARSAT ground segment with visibility area 2500 km around Karachi, Pakistan

SUPARCO, the Pakistan National Space Agency, was established in 1961 as a Committee and was granted the status of a Commission in 1981. SUPARCO is mandated to conduct research and development in space science, space technology, and their peaceful applications in the country. It works towards developing indigenous capabilities in space technology and promoting space applications for socio-economic uplift of the country.