Iran to Launch 1st Sensor-Operational Satellite

“The first sensor-operational satellite which will be prepared for launch next year is named Soha,” Haddadpour said on Sunday.

Elaborating on the satellite’s capabilities, he said that it can detect objects with the resolution of 15m and will be deployed in the 36,000-km orbit.

Iranian Communications and Information Technology Minister Mahmoud Vaezi announced earlier this month that two new home-made satellites, namely Nahid 1 (Venus 1) and Payam-e Amir Kabir, are ready to launch into the space.

“Now, we have two ready-to-launch satellites; one of them is Amir Kabir sensing satellite and another one is Nahid telecommunication satellite and over 97% of preparation works have been carried out on them,” Vaezi said.

He expressed the hope that the two satellites would be launched into orbit within the next few months.

Iran in February 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.