Iran plans to launch three domestically designed satellites in six months, a high-ranking Iranian aerospace official told the country’s English-language Press TV on Thursday.
Deputy head of Iran Space Agency (ISA), Hamid Fazeli,
said that three satellites – Tadbir, Nahid and Sharif Sat – will be delivered
to orbit before the current Iranian calendar year ends on March 20, 2014.
Fazeli also expressed hope that the Pishgam-2 (Pioneer-2)
bio-capsule with a living creature on board, will travel into space atop a
domestically-produced rocket soon.
Iran launched its first domestically-produced satellite
Omid (Hope) in 2009, an endeavor that made it the ninth country with the
ability to launch satellites. A year later, the country launched a Kavoshagar-3
rocket that delivered a rat, two turtles and a worm into space.
In late January Iran reportedly launched a bio-capsule
with a live monkey into space, which reached an altitude of more than 120
kilometers (74.5 miles) and returned to Earth safely.
Iran's Space Monkey
Fazeli earlier said the country plans a manned space
launch within the next five or eight years.
