Iran to sends satellite into Orbit

Iran Sends 2nd Home-Made Satellite to Orbit
TEHRAN (FNA)- Iran successfully sent its second domestically-made satellite named 'Rasad' (Observation) into orbit, redisplaying the country's independence in its space program.




On auspicious birth anniversary night of Imam Ali ibn Abu-Taleb (P), pride-inspiring technicians of IRI Aerospace Org (IAO) successfully launched Iran's Rasad satellite into earth space Wednesday evening.

The competent IAO scientists and technicians who had the experience of launching Iran's 1st national satellite, Omid (Hope), into the earth space last year, whose main mission was image taking, and all phases of its design, manufacturing, assembly, testing, and preparation for being launched into the space were both initiated and completed inside the country, Iran's 2nd domestically produced satellite, Rasad, was launched successfully into the space on Wednesday evening.

Rasad satellite which weighs 15.3 kilograms and is designed to be launched into the 260 kilometer orbit of the earth is scheduled to rotate around the earth 15 times in 24 hours.

Rasad satellite's mission is establishing contact with earth stations, obtaining orders from those stations, image taking from the earth, and dispatching those images along with telemetry information back to the earth stations.

The topology and structure of the of the earth stations of Rasad satellite, too, are designed in a way to provide the possibility for maximum access to Rasad through them, obtaining information from it, and forwarding commands to it at ease for the operators in charge.

Iran has recently taken wide strides in aerospace. The country sent the first biocapsule of living creatures into space in February, using its home-made Kavoshgar-3 (Explorer-3) carrier.

Iran announced in February that it plans to unveil and send two recently-built satellites into space in the near future.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had also earlier announced that the country plans to send a home-made measurement satellite into orbit in the near future.

"Iran's measurement satellite will be launched into space from an Iranian launch-pad and will have an Iranian exchange station and control station," Iranian president said late 2010.

Ahmadinejad further noted Iran's plans for sending astronauts into space in 2024, and said that the issue had gone under a second study at a cabinet meeting and that the cabinet had decided to implement the plan in 2019, five years earlier than the date envisaged in the original plan.

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.

After launching Omid, Tehran unveiled three new satellites called Tolou, Mesbah II and Navid, respectively. Iran has also unveiled its latest achievements in designing and producing satellite carriers very recently.

A new generation of home-made satellites and a new satellite carrier called Simorgh (Phoenix) were among the latest achievements unveiled by Iran's aerospace industries.

The milk-bottle shaped rocket is equipped to carry a 60-kilogram (132-pound) satellite 500 kilometers (310 miles) into orbit.

The 27-meter (90 foot) tall multi-stage rocket weighs 85 tons and its liquid fuel propulsion system has a thrust of up to 143 tons.

Iran is one of the 24 founding members of the United Nations' Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (UNCOPUOS), which was set up in 1959.