Iran to launch new satellites this year
By Sara Rajabova
Regardless of the sanctions imposed on Iran by Western countries the country is developing its space program to launch new satellites.
Iran plans to launch three domestically designed and manufactured satellites into the orbit in six months, Press TV reported.
Deputy head of Iran Space Agency (ISA), Hamid Fazeli, said that the satellites Tadbir (Prudence) and Sharif Sat will be lifted into space by the year-end.
He added that Tadbir satellite is being developed in cooperation with Iran University of Science and Technology, while Iranian students and academics from Sharif University of Technology are busy preparing Sharif Sat for lift-off.
Sharif Sat reportedly weighs less than 50 kilograms and will be launched onboard the indigenous Safir B-1 carrier. It is planned to be placed into a Low Earth Orbit (LEO) at an altitude between 350 kilometers (217 miles) and 500 kilometers (310 miles) above the Earth's surface.
The satellite will capture images with a high degree of accuracy of less than 10 meters and then transmit them to stations on earth.
A senior Iranian aerospace official said the two indigenous satellites will be delivered to the ISA within a month, noting that compatibility tests on both satellites will take about two months at the agency.
Tadbir is an upgraded version of the Navid-e Elm-o Sanat (Harbinger of Science and Industry) satellite, which was put into space earlier.
The satellite has Global Positioning System (GPS) as well as higher precision in taking photos in comparison to its predecessor.
Fazeli further said that Nahid (Venus) satellite, which is being developed in cooperation with Amir Kabir University of Technology, will also be launched by the end of the current Iranian calendar year.
He expressed optimism that Pishgam-2 (Pioneer-2) bio-capsule, carrying a living creature, will be soon sent into the space onboard an indigenous satellite carrier.
On January 28, 2013, Iran sent a monkey into space aboard an indigenous bio-capsule, code-named Pishgam (Pioneer), as a prelude to sending humans on space missions.
Iran launched its first indigenous satellite, Omid (Hope), in 2009. The country also sent its first bio-capsule containing living creatures into space in February 2010, using the indigenous Kavoshgar-3 (Explorer-3) carrier. Iran frequently says that it will push ahead with its space program in the coming years.
The country is one of the 24 founding members of the UN Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space, which was set up in 1959.