[11] The CNSA has announced in 2022 that it will carry scientific instruments from France, Italy and Sweden on the Chang'e-6 mission's lander along with a Pakistani payload on the orbiter.

[7][12] Pakistan's Institute of Space Technology (IST) had answered the call with a proposal for a lunar CubeSat named "ICUBE-Qamar" (ICUBE-Q) and it was selected after a rigorous evaluation.

The development was carried out jointly in the Intelligent Satellite Technology Center of School of Aeronautics and Astronautics at Shanghai Jiao Tong University.

The satellite called locally as "SJTU Siyuan 2" had to integrate multiple functions within limited space and mass, including energy supply, communication systems and the scientific experiment equipment.

The satellite was deployed from the Chang'e 6 lunar orbiter stack in at 08:14 UTC (13:14 PKT) on 8 May 2024 and had undergone testing for the first few days with the first images being expected around 15-16 May 2024.