[3] The program received official approval from Prime Minister Yousaf Gillani in July 2011, with funding allocated in the 2011 Pakistan fiscal year budget.
[1] Prior to the Space Programme 2040, SUPARCO had successfully launched the Badr-II satellite in 2001.
Badr-II was Pakistan's first low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite and was launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome by Russia's Roscosmos.
[4] A key component of the Space Programme 2040 was the development and launch of six remote sensing satellites.
Launched on August 11, 2011, at 9:17 PM (PKT), it was the first geostationary (GEO) satellite to be deployed as part of the Space Programme 2040.