Iran Resolves to Develop Space Industry Irrespective of US Opposition

“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 on Monday.

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 announced on Saturday that the country’s experts have 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 is one of the 9 superior states in building satellites beside the US, Russia, Europe and Canada.

Head of the Iranian Space Agency (ISA) Morteza Barari announced last month his country’s plans to manufacture a home-made telecommunication satellite in the next few years.

“Building an indigenized telecommunication satellite within the next 7 years is atop the ISA’s plans,” Barari said.

He added that the preliminary steps had already been taken by Iran to manufacture a telecommunication satellite by building Nahid 1 and Nahid 2 satellites.

Barari underlined that Iran also planned to build a sensing satellite with a 1-meter precision power in 7 years.

Barari had also announced in October that his country was standing among the 9 top world countries in developing satellites.

He also added that Iran ranked first in the region in the aerospace sector, explaining that Iran ranked 14th in the world in 2016 but it jumped three grades and ranked 11th in the world in 2017.

Also in the same month, Barari had said that the country’s experts had built several new satellites, adding that they would be launched into the orbit soon.

“We hope that satellite Zafar will be ready by the end of this (Iranian) year (started on March 21) and we will pursue its launch next year,” Barari told FNA.

He added that satellite Dousti, developed by Sharif University of Technology, had gone through the process of compatibility with the launcher and was standing the launch permission, while satellite Payam, built by Amir Kabir University, and Nahid communication satellite were under the compatibility process and would be launched into the orbit after receiving necessary permissions.

Barari had announced in November that three domestically-made satellites were ready to be launched.

“Sharif University of Technology’s Dousti satellite, the sensing-operational satellite of Amirkabir University and a communication satellite named Nahid are ready to launch,” Barari said, addressing a meeting in Tehran.

He also said that several other satellites were under construction, adding, “We have planned to build a sensing satellite with the precision of one meter by 2025.”

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.