President:

Iran to Launch 2 New Satellites into Space

TEHRAN (defapress)- Iranian President Hassan Rouhani the country plans to send into the orbit two new home-made satellites in the near future.

News ID: 74880

Date: 10 January 2019 - 16:10

Addressing a ceremony held to commemorate the second passing anniversary of former president and chairman of the Expediency Council Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani in Tehran on Thursday, President Rouhani said, “In the coming weeks, we will send two new satellites into space using our domestically-built rockets.”

Iran is one of the 9 superior states in building satellites beside the US, Russia, Europe and Canada.

Iran's Communication and Information Technology Minister Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi underlined last Monday that his country was determined to further advance its peaceful space industry, irrespective of opposition by others.

"If anyone claims that Iran should not develop its space industry, we would tell them they are uttering irrelevant words as we do not need to receive permission from anyone for development," Azari Jahromi told reporters in Tehran.

He reminded that the western states withdrew assistance to Iran when it planned to launch its telecommunication satellite, Mesbah, and said, "Iran cannot wait for other countries for development."

"If we decide to launch into the orbit our two (home-made) satellites, Payam-e Amir Kabir and Dousti, on the back of Iranian launchers, this will no doubt be done," Azari Jahromi said.

Azari Jahromi had also announced last Saturday that the country's experts had accomplished the final tests on a number of newly-developed satellites, one of them with the resolution of 40m.

"A satellite with the resolution of 1,000m was due to be built through international cooperation 10 years ago, but they didn't cooperate with Iran," Azari Jahromi wrote on his twitter page.

Now, Iranian experts have manufactured a satellite with the resolution of 25 times better which serves agricultural, environment and water management sectors, he underlined, and added, "Last night, the Iranian satellites passed their tests successfully."

Iran in February 2017 unveiled two new home-made satellites of Nahid 1 and Amir Kabir as well as a space tug built for the first time in the country.

The three space crafts were unveiled in a ceremony participated by Iranian President Hassan Rouhani in Tehran on the occasion of the Space Technology Day in Iran.

Nahid 1 is a telecommunication satellite built in the Iranian Space Research Center.

Payam-e Amir Kabir has been designed and built in Amir Kabir University of Technology and is capable of taking images with a precision better than 40 meters.

Meantime, Saman 1 space tug which has been manufactured for the first time in the country is used to transfer the satellites from Low Earth orbit (LEO) to higher-energy orbits.

Also, Head of Iran's National Space Center Manouchehr Manteqi announced in October that the country planned to cooperate with Russia in sending men into space for the first time.

"Because sending human being into space needs lots of expenses, and different countries use each other's possibilities, and at present, Russia's possibilities are almost complete, we have decided to do the mission in cooperation with Russia," Manteqi told reporters in Tehran.

Iran has previously sent Simorgh satellite and Pajouhesh explorer into the orbit in recent years.

Message end/