Iran’s Defense Minister Brigadier General Amir Hatami recently announced good progress in manufacturing different types of satellites, saying that Iranian experts are working on five research projects in this field, Fars News Agency (FNA) recently reported.
“The Defense Ministry is working on four to five research satellites, and we hope the projects will be completed by the yearend (March 19),” General Hatami said.
Reacting to speculations circulating in some foreign media over the potential launch of a new satellite by Iran in the near future, he said: “The Defense Ministry carries out its research activities on launching satellites and rockets in accordance with a well-established program.”
General Hatami said such activities are completely normal, while some may question these activities and consider them as complicated.
He noted that the Islamic Republic’s research satellite activities are transparent, saying that as soon as the activities are carried out and research results are obtained, Iran will announce the good news to the public.
His remarks came days after Head of the Iranian Space Agency (ISA) Morteza Barari announced that the country would send 3 new satellites to orbit by the end of this year.
The decision has been made to accomplish the tasks related by Nahid 1 telecommunication satellite and Zafar and Pars 1 sensing satellites to orbit them this year, Barari said.
He added that Zafar and Pars 1 satellites enjoy the resolutions of 22.5m and 15m, respectively.
“We are trying to build a sensing satellite with the resolution of 1m by 2025,” Barari said.
Late in July, Iranian Communication and IT Minister Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi announced that the country’s newly-developed satellite ‘Nahid’ had undergone final tests and would be prepared for launch soon.
“The space research centers have accomplished their task on the satellite and related final tests have been carried out, and the satellite could be delivered to the defense ministry within the next one to two weeks to be launched into the orbit,” Azari Jahromi told reporters in Tehran after a cabinet meeting.
He added that the problems observed in the last two failed satellite launches of Iran had been resolved and further expressed hope for a successful launch of Nahid into the orbit.
In January 2019, the domestically-built Payam (Message) satellite was launched into space with an aim to collect environmental information; however, technical problems that occurred during the final stage of the launch prevented the spacecraft from reaching orbit.
In relevant remarks, Head of the Iranian Space Research Center (ISRC) Hadi Rezayee said last month that Iran had completed the development of another satellite and is making final preparations on two others for launch into orbit, adding that his country would keep developing its space program in defiance of restrictions imposed by the US.
Rezayee said that Iranian researchers had prepared the satellites in defiance of the US restrictions when equipment and technology are not available to Iran.
Based on national macro-plans, the ISRC has drawn a roadmap for developing sentinel and telecommunications satellites and stratosphere platforms, he noted.
He added that the body is now cooperating with 11 universities and over 300 knowledge-based and private sector companies.
