Pakistan Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (Suparco) on Thursday announced \u201cJinnah-1\u201d as the official name of the country\u2019s first lunar rover.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The rover is scheduled to be sent to the Moon in 2029 as part of China\u2019s Chang\u2019e-8 mission, where it will conduct scientific research at the lunar south pole, Suparco said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Moon\u2019s south pole is known for its challenging terrain and potential to yield significant scientific discoveries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In a ceremony held in Islamabad, Suparco said that the name was selected from 4,000 proposals received in a countrywide competition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Seven participants had proposed the name \u201cJinnah-1\u201d and the winner was selected through a lucky draw, according to a statement from Suparco.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tayyab Karim, a 17-year-old from Bahawalnagar, was declared the winner for proposing the name, Suparco said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The name pays tribute to Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah and symbolises \u201cPakistan\u2019s resolve, progress and new space horizons\u201d, Suparco Chairman said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jinnah-1 will study plasma, radiation and the lunar surface\u2019s geology, as well as conduct key experiments related to future lunar research and the prospect of human presence on the Moon, Suparco said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Suparco announced the collaboration with China\u2019s Chang\u2019e-8 mission in 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis collaboration marks a significant milestone for Pakistan\u2019s space programme, as Suparco\u2019s indigenous rover will be part of the mission to explore the lunar surface,\u201d the space agency said at the time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nasa is\u00a0targeting\u00a02028 for the first-ever landing of astronauts on the Moon\u2019s south pole, as part of Artemis IV, seeking to beat China\u2019s planned crewed mission, Chang\u2019e-8, to the same lunar region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In 2023, India managed to\u00a0land a craft\u00a0\u2014 the unmanned Chandrayaan-3 \u2014 near the Moon\u2019s south pole.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Its landing came days after a Russian probe\u00a0crashed\u00a0in the same region and four years since the previous Indian attempt\u00a0failed\u00a0at the last moment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Pakistan Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (Suparco) on Thursday announced \u201cJinnah-1\u201d as the official name of the country\u2019s first lunar rover. The rover is scheduled to be sent to the Moon in 2029 as part of China\u2019s Chang\u2019e-8 mission, where it will conduct scientific research at the lunar south pole, Suparco said. The Moon\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7857,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7856","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-policy-governance"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistanaffairs.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7856","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistanaffairs.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistanaffairs.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistanaffairs.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistanaffairs.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7856"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/pakistanaffairs.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7856\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7858,"href":"https:\/\/pakistanaffairs.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7856\/revisions\/7858"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistanaffairs.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7857"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistanaffairs.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7856"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistanaffairs.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7856"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistanaffairs.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7856"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}