Iran Unveils New Telecommunication Satellite

Iran unveiled its new telecommunication satellite, Persian Gulf, in an official ceremony in Tehran on Monday, the second home-made satellite shown to the public today.
Persian Gulf, designed and manufactured by researchers of Malek Ashtar University of Technology, was unveiled in a ceremony attended by Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, Vice-President for Executive Affairs Mohammad Shariatmadari and the country’s space officials.

The satellite will be used for establishing safe and secured communications contacts in narrow band and will also provide SMS services both inside and outside the country.

The Persian Gulf’s applications include exchange of text and digital audio messages among the users.

The satellite is also capable of exchanging data among users in wireless networks.

In September, Tehran announced that it plans to orbit a new home-made telecommunication satellite in the near future.

“The Islamic Republic of Iran will launch a telecommunication satellite into orbit in a not far future,” Deputy Head of the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) for Development and Technology Abdulali Aliasgari said in the Northern city of Zibakenar at the time.

Noting that Iran is preparing to send small and mid-range home-made satellites into orbit, he added, “Planning has been made to send the satellite to an orbit around 36,000 kilometers distant from the Earth.”

Earlier today, Iran unveiled another newly-built satellite, Tadbir (Prudence), in the same ceremony in Tehran.

Last month, former Chancellor of Science and Industry University Mohammad Saeed Jabal Ameli told reporters that Navid 2 satellite which was renamed as Tadbir by the eleventh government (President Rouhani’s government) would be sent into the space in the near future.
He said that the satellite had been built by the Iranian researchers at Science and Industry University and delivered to Iran’s Space Agency (ISA) in November.

“At present, the satellite is passing the final tests in ISA and is being transferred to the launch pad,” Jebel Ameli said.

Also in December, a senior ISA official said that Tehran would orbit two new home-made satellites by the end of the Iranian calendar year (March 20, 2014).

“Tests are being conducted on the two satellites of Sharif and Tadbir before the launching process,” Hamid Fazeli said.

Early in September, Presidential Advisor and the ISA Chief Akbar Torkan said that the first satellite to be launched in the new government is called Tadbir.”

Earlier this year, Fazeli announced that the country would send 6 new home-made satellites, mostly made by Iranian universities, to the space in the current Iranian year.

“Based on the foreseen timeline, Fajr, Sharif Sat, Tolou, Zafar, and A-Test will be sent to the space by the end of the current year,” Fazeli told reporters in Tehran.

He said that Mesbah is also among the satellites to be sent into orbit this year.

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.