Official: Iran’s New Operational Satellite Ready in 4 Months

Head of the Iranian Space Agency Morteza Barari announced that Iran’s new operational satellite named Zafar (Victory) will be ready in September.

“The Iranian Space Agency will try to receive Zafar satellite from Science and Technology University in September” and then start the launcher compatibility process until it is given the go ahead for its launch, Barari told FNA on Tuesday.

He added that Zafar will be launched to an orbit 500km above the Earth.

“Zafar satellite is an operational satellite and we hope to render some services to the society after its launch,” Barari said.

Iran is one of the 9 superior states in building satellites beside the US, Russia, Europe and Canada.

Barari had announced in mid-December that 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.

President of Amir Kabir University of Technology Seyed Ahmad Motamedi underlined in February Iran’s capability to orbit high-quality satellites in an altitude 500km above the Earth.

“We are able to send satellites to the 500-km altitude and we can design satellites based on international standards,” Motamedi said, addressing a meeting in Tehran.

Also in February, Iranian Minister of Communications and Information Technology Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi announced the country’s plans to purchase a satellite to be placed into the geostationary orbit.

Speaking to reporters in Tehran, Azari Jahromi said the country was serious about “purchasing a satellite with international cooperation”.

He added that the private sector was in talks to acquire the necessary license for buying the satellite and sending it into the geo orbit in which Iran had orbital points.

Azari Jahromi explained that the orbital points in the geo belonged to Iran for the next two years, expressing the hope that the country would be able to orbit the satellite in due time.