TEHRAN, Dec 19 (NNN-IRNA) – Iran’s minister of communication and information technology, said yesterday, the country will launch at least two home-grown satellites into space by Mar 20, 2023, which is the end of the Iranian calendar year.
Making the remarks in an interview, Issa Zarepour, said that, in addition to the two communication satellites, Nahid 1 and Nahid 2, others are to be launched later.
The two satellites are both produced by the Iranian Space Research Centre, with Nahid 1 unveiled in late Jan, 2017.
Nahid 2 is an improved version of the series, designed to be put into an orbit 500 km above the Earth. With a two-year lifespan, it has a three-axis control system and a propulsion system for orbital manoeuvres.
The minister’s announcement came, after Iran and Russia on Wednesday, signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU), to expand space industry cooperation.
Iran also succeeded in launching the Qaem 100 three-stage solid fuel suborbital satellite carrier in Nov, and the Khayyam satellite into space, from the Baikonur space station in Kazakhstan, by Russia’s Soyuz satellite carrier rocket in Aug.– NNN-IRNA
