Pakistan has a little explorer in space now.
Their first mission to the moon, called iCube Qamar, has successfully started circling the moon. It hitched a ride with China’s Chang’e-6 mission, which launched on May 3rd.
Scientists in Pakistan worked with China to build iCube Qamar. It’s a small satellite called a CubeSat, and it has two cameras to take pictures of the moon’s surface.
Normally, CubeSats travel close to Earth, but iCube Qamar is in a special elliptical orbit around the moon, which takes about 12 hours to complete. This will allow it to get a good view of different parts of the moon’s surface.
Getting a satellite to work so far away from Earth is tricky, but scientists in Pakistan are up to the challenge! They’re excited to use the pictures from iCube Qamar to learn more about the moon.