Tehran, Jan 28: Iran achieved a significant milestone on Sunday by launching three domestically developed satellites into space simultaneously, marking a historic moment in the nation’s space endeavors, as reported by the media.
The Iranian Students’ News Agency (ISNA) stated that the satellites were launched into an elliptic orbit with a minimum altitude of 450 kilometers above the Earth’s surface.
Among the trio of satellites, one is designated as Mahda, serving as a communications and research satellite, while the remaining two are nanosatellites named Keyhan-2 and Hatef-1. These satellites were launched using the indigenous launch vehicle Simorgh (Phoenix) from the central province of Semnan, according to the Xinhua news agency.
Mahda’s primary objective is to evaluate Simorgh’s performance across various tasks and assess new designs and technologies in space, while the other two satellites will concentrate on global positioning and communications technology.
Despite warnings from Western governments, including the US, regarding potential dual-use capabilities for ballistic missiles, Iran maintains that its satellite and rocket launches serve civilian or defense purposes exclusively.
This accomplishment follows Iran’s recent announcement on January 20 of launching Soraya, a domestically developed lightweight research and telecommunication satellite, utilizing the homegrown Qaem-100 three-stage solid-fuel launch vehicle.
