ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s lunar satellite iCube Qamar has sent the first picture from the orbit after successfully completing three rounds of the moon.

The iCube-Qamar was launched on board China’s Chang’e-6 rocket from Hainan, China, on May 3.

According to the Pakistan Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (SUPARCO), iCube Qamar entered lunar orbit on May 8. The satellite is equipped with two cameras, which are taking pictures of the moon from a distance of 200 kilometres.

According to the Institute of Space Technology, the satellite iCube-Qamar had been designed and developed by IST in collaboration with China’s Shanghai University SJTU and Pakistan’s national space agency SUPARCO.

Chang’e6 is the sixth in a series of China’s lunar exploration missions.

Chang’6, China’s Lunar Mission will touch down on the Moon’s far side to collect samples from the surface and return to Earth for research.

The mission holds significance for Pakistan as it also took a Pakistan CubeSat Satellite iCube-Q, developed by IST.

Earlier, iCube Qamar had been successfully deployed in orbit. This has been told by a member of the core team at the Institute of Space Technology, Dr Khurram Khurshid while talking to a private TV channel.