Pakistan Space & Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (SUPARCO) is the national space agency of Pakistan, mandated to conduct research and development in the fields of space science, technology, and their peaceful applications for socio-economic uplift and national security.
The ‘Space Education and Awareness Drive’ or SEAD, is an education, awareness, and outreach program designed to maximize space awareness in the country, engage kids and younger generation into space-themed activities and provide a forum to Pakistani students, researchers, and educators to contribute, collaborate and compete on national and international forums of space science and technology.
The Space Education and Awareness Drive Programme features a dedicated website, and Facebook page infusing online activities with real events to make space science and technology understandable and accessible to all.
As part of the program a score of different activities is conducted all around the year and collaborations are carried out with national and international entities, organizations and academia to promote space science, technology and its applications.
World Space Week is a globally celebrated space event held annually from 4-10 October as declared by the United Nations in 1999. It is coordinated by the United Nations with the support of the World Space Week Association (WSWA) which leads a global team of National Coordinators, who promote this celebration within their own countries.
In Pakistan, World Space Week is being actively organized and coordinated by SUPARCO as National Coordinator since 2005. Also, Pakistan has been in top countries with the largest number of countrywide events.  In 2019, over 8,000 events were reported, held simultaneously in 96 countries making WSW the largest space event on Earth. Pakistan achieved 2nd rank amongst 95 countries in global WSWA rankings with over 1400 events countrywide and was featured in WSWA Annual reported presented at the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) forum.
The World Space Week 2020 commenced on 4 Oct 2020 with the theme of ‘Satellites Improve Lives’. Although, the country was coping with the COVID-19 pandemic and intermittently remained in restricted environments and smart-micro lockdowns, the event of World Space Week was brought to life through interesting and dynamic online activities by SUPARCO’s Space Education & Awareness Drive (SEAD) program.
The website (www.sead.pk) and Facebook page engaged participants and space hobbyists from all over the country.
An extensive Best Space School Contest was offered for institutions to register, conduct WSW activities at their premises and compete for the title. The response was overwhelming and awes trucking in terms of turnover and the quality of events organized by the educational institutions.
Over 30 different competitions were announced in four different categories of space technology, arts & craft, architecture, and interactive, for individual participation from home.
A bunch of online activities including live astronomy night, webinars on space-related themes, astrophotography, watch parties for space videos and documentaries, posters, blogs, and hashtag events were organized which kept the people actively engaged COVID-19.
The Space Education & Awareness Drive is evolving to be a good step towards popularizing space science and technology in the country. The activities were devised to attract young kids, mature students, educators, and the general public alike and were well received as seen from the responses and participation.
