The Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission has officially retired its communications satellite PakSat-1R following a successful 15 year operational mission in geostationary orbit. The agency safely deorbited the spacecraft, precisely maneuvering the DFH-4 platform satellite into a designated disposal orbit, a move that fully satisfies international space safety standards and orbital debris mitigation guidelines.
PakSat-1R was launched aboard a Chang Zheng 3B rocket on August 11, 2011, becoming SUPARCO’s primary geostationary communications satellite at the time. Manufactured on the DFH-4 platform, the satellite carried 30 transponders across C and Ku bands and beamed coverage across South Asia, the Middle East, East Africa and parts of Europe throughout its operational life. During its fifteen year lifecycle, PakSat-1R achieved all of its primary mission objectives, providing critical telecommunications, television broadcasting and broadband infrastructure across Pakistan and the surrounding region.
A notice from the KeepTrack Operations Center flagged the satellite’s potential departure from its orbital slot on August 22, following a detection made on August 20 at 9:53 PM Pakistan Standard Time. The automated tracking system classified the event as a Tier 1 priority departure, and observational data has since confirmed that PakSat-1R departed its 38 degrees East slot, drifting west at 2.09 degrees per day toward a net drift of 10.8 degrees by the end of its disposal maneuver.
This controlled decommissioning highlights SUPARCO’s continued commitment to sustainable satellite fleet management as the agency manages the lifecycle of Pakistan’s orbital communications assets. To ensure uninterrupted service following PakSat-1R’s retirement, SUPARCO had already launched the PakSat MM-1 satellite, which has remained in active service since May 2024, positioning it to carry forward the telecommunications and broadcasting capacity previously provided by its retired predecessor.
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