Iran to launch indigenous Fajr satellite in June

Iran launched its first domestically-produced Omid (Hope) satellite in 2009 on board Safir (Ambassador) carrier.

Iran's Defense Minister Brigadier General Ahmad Vahidi says the Islamic Republic will soon launch its indigenous Fajr (Dawn) satellite in yet another technological step forward in the space industry.

Brigadier General Vahidi told reporters in the northern city of Sari on Sunday that the satellite, which is said to be a reconnaissance satellite powered by solar energy, will be sent into space in June. 

Speaking at a conference in Tehran’s Khajeh Nasir Tousi University of Technology on May 2, Director of Iran Space Agency Hamid Fazeli said that Iran plans to send up the Fajr satellite on board the upgraded Safir (Ambassador) carrier rocket. 

Fajr satellite will reportedly be placed in elliptical orbit of 400 km in radius, and will remain in space for a year and a half. 

Iran launched its first indigenous satellite, Omid (Hope), in 2009. The country also sent its first biocapsule 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. 

The satellite is a telecom, measurement and scientific one, whose records could be used in a wide range of fields. 

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. 

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

MP/HGH/MA


Press TV