IRAN LAUNCH HOME MADE SATELLITE BY LATE MARCH
Iran announced on Wednesday that it plans to launch another home-made satellite called Fajr (Dawn) into space by late March 2011.
“Based on our plans, the home-made Fajr satellite will be launched into space by the end of this (Iranian) year (ending on March 20),” Iranian Telecommunications Minister Reza Taqipour said on the sidelines of a cabinet meeting here today.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had also earlier announced that the country plans to send a home-made measurement satellite into orbit in the near future.
“Iran’s measurement satellite will be launched into space from an Iranian launch-pad and will have an Iranian exchange station and control station,” Iranian president said.
IRAN PLANS SENDING ASTRONAUTS INTO SPACE IN 2024
Ahmadinejad further noted Iran’s plans for sending astronauts into space in 2024, and said that the issue has gone under a second study at a recent cabinet meeting and that the cabinet has decided to implement the plan in 2019, five years earlier than the date envisaged in the original plan.
Iran has recently taken wide strides in aerospace. The country sent the first biocapsule of living creatures into space in February, using its home-made Kavoshgar-3 (Explorer-3) carrier.
Omid (hope) was Iran’s first research satellite that was designed for gathering information and testing equipment. After orbiting for three months, Omid successfully completed its mission without any problem. It completed more than 700 orbits over seven weeks and reentered the Earth’s atmosphere on April 25, 2009.
After launching Omid, Tehran unveiled three new satellites called Tolou, Mesbah II and Navid, respectively. Iran has also unveiled its latest achievements in designing and producing satellite carriers very recently.
A new generation of home-made satellites and a new satellite carrier called Simorgh (Phoenix) were among the latest achievements unveiled by Iran’s aerospace industries.
The milk-bottle shaped rocket is equipped to carry a 60-kilogram (132-pound) satellite 500 kilometers (310 miles) into orbit.
The 27-meter (90 foot) tall multi-stage rocket weighs 85 tons and its liquid fuel propulsion system has a thrust of up to 143 tons.
Iran is one of the 24 founding members of the United Nations’ Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (UNCOPUOS), which was set up in 1959.
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