Iran to Launch 3 Satellites in Coming Months, Official Says
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Head of the Iranian Space Agency (ISA) Morteza Barari, in a meeting with several parliamentarians, announced that the country would launch three domestically-made satellites into orbit by the end of the current Persian calendar year (March 2020).
Speaking to Tasnim, MP Mehrdad Baouj Lahouti pointed to the Sunday meeting between Barari and a number of lawmakers and said he presented a report on the performance and future plans of the ISA.
He added that at the beginning of the meeting, Barari announced the three new satellites would be launched by the end of the current Iranian year.
The satellites and their launchers have been designed and manufactured by domestic experts, the lawmaker quoted the official as saying.
Iran has in recent years made great headways in the space technology thanks to the efforts made by its local scientists.
The country successfully launched its first indigenous data-processing satellite, Omid (Hope), into orbit in February 2009.
In February 2017, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani unveiled 3 new achievements in the space industry, including Payam, which has been made in Tehran’s Amirkabir University of Technology with the mission to take surveying images at resolutions below 40 meters. Equipped with a range of homegrown technologies, the satellite will go into orbit with a local carrier.
In July 2017, Iran inaugurated the Imam Khomeini National Space Center with the successful test-launch of a homegrown satellite carrier dubbed Simorgh.
The center, home to Iran’s first fixed launch platform, administrates the development, launch, and navigation of Iranian satellite carriers.
Designed and built in compliance with international standards, the Imam Khomeini National Space Center is going to handle all space projects in the low‑Earth orbit (LEO).
