The Institute of Space Technology (IST) announced on Friday that Pakistan's first satellite mission to the moon, iCube-Qamar, has successfully transmitted the first-ever photograph of the moon taken from lunar orbit.
According to IST, Qamar is the first satellite from Pakistan to reach lunar orbit and finish its revolution in a day, which makes this a historic achievement.
"The iCube-Qamar will image the lunar orbit from a distance of 200 kilometers from the surface of the moon," according to the IST.
It said that the iCube-Qamar signals will be detected on Earth after traveling a distance of 360,000 to 400,000 kilometers.
"iCube-Qamar has made three rounds around the moon," the IST stated.
The first photograph was acquired two days after IST declared that the satellite was safely launched into orbit on May 8 at 1:14 p.m. Pakistan time.
Meanwhile, the Chinese Embassy in Pakistan took to X, formerly Twitter, to felicitate Pakistan for the achievement.
"Well begun is half done." As Pakistan's satellite ICUBE-Q successfully entered lunar orbit on Wednesday after a five-day journey, scientists received preliminary imaging data, setting the groundwork for in-depth [China-Pakistan] cooperation in lunar and deep space exploration," the embassy stated in a post.