Former ISA Chief: Iran to Send New Home-Made Satellites into Space

Former ISA Chief: Iran to Send New Home-Made Satellites into Space

TEHRAN (FNA)- Iran plans to send a new home-made satellite into space in the next two months, former Iran Space Agency (ISA) Chief Hamid Fazeli said. Speaking on the sidelines of the opening ceremony of the World Space Week in Tehran (October 4-10) on Saturday, Fazeli announced that ISA has built the Tadbir (prudence) satellite in cooperation with Iran University of Science and Technology. He added that the Tadbir satellite is equipped with more advanced navigation systems and higher resolution cameras compared with the Navid (Promise) satellite which was also sent into orbit by the university in 2012. He also commented on the Zafar (Victory) satellite, saying that this satellite will be sent into orbit aboard the Simorgh carrier sometime next year. Early in September, a senior advisor to Iran's President Hassan Rouhani announced that Tehran is preparing to orbit a new home-made satellite, called Tadbir, in the near future. “As stated by Fazeli, the first satellite to be launched in the new government is called Tadbir,” Presidential Advisor and the new ISA Chief Akbar Torkan said. Earlier this year, Chancellor of Iran’s Sharif University of Technology Reza Rousta Azad announced that Iran would launch into orbit a new home-made satellite, called 'Sharif Sat', by the end of summer. “We are through with building Sharif Sat and the satellite is waiting for launch,” Rousta Azad told FNA in June. Reminding that several more satellites are waiting for launch, he expressed the hope that Iran could send Sharif Sat into orbit in the first half of the current Iranian year (which started on March 21). Rousta Azad said that Sharif Sat would orbit at a distance around 500 kilometers from the Earth, adding that the satellite would be launched on the back of home-made 'Safir B1' (Ambassador B1) carrier. Earlier this year, Fazeli announced that the country would send 6 new home-made satellites, mostly made by Iranian universities, to the space in the current Iranian year. "Based on the foreseen timeline, Fajr, Sharif Sat, Tolou, Zafar, and A-Test will be sent to the space by the end of the current year," Fazeli told reporters in Tehran. He said that Mesbah is also among the satellites to be sent into orbit this year.