Iran to design, produce hi-tech space suits in 8 years

Iran’s Aerospace Research Institute says the country will acquire the know-how to design and manufacture hi-tech space suits within the next eight years.

“Iran will acquire the know-how to design and produce space suits by the next eight years,” Head of Iran’s Aerospace Research Institute Mohammed Ebrahimi said on Monday.

Ebrahimi said his organization and Iran’s Shiraz University are cooperating closely with each other on the project.

The Iranian official said the production of space suits is a “high-tech” industry which is costly and requires advanced know-how.

In recent years, Iran has made great achievements in the field of aerospace.

On January 17, the director of Iran Space Agency (ISA) Hamid Fazeli said the country will soon send living animals into space aboard a bio-capsule as a prelude to sending humans into space.

Because of the biological similarities between humans and monkeys, the latter were selected for the forthcoming space mission, Fazeli said.

Fazeli further highlighted that the plan to send animals into space is part of a broader project to send human beings on space missions.

In recent years, Iran has made great achievements in the field of aerospace.

Iran launched its first indigenous satellite, Omid (Hope), in 2009. The country also sent its first bio-capsule of living creatures into space in February 2010, using the indigenous Kavoshgar-3 (Explorer-3) carrier.

Moreover, in June 2011, Iran put the 15.3-kilogram Rasad (Observation) orbiter in space. Rasad’s mission was to take images of the Earth and transmit them along with telemetry information to the ground stations.

Iran also launched Navid-e Elm-o Sanat (Harbinger of Science and Industry), another indigenous satellite into orbit on February 3, 2012.

Tehran plans to launch the country’s first manned mission to space by 2019.

Iran is one of the 24 founding members of the UN Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space, which was set up in 1959.