Iran's upcoming satellite launch: A new space endeavor
The satellite, known as "Tolu’-3" (Sunrise-3), has undergone rigorous testing and is now ready for liftoff.
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This image taken from video footage aired by Iranian state television on Tuesday, March 8, 2022, shows the launch of a rocket by Iran's IRGC carrying a Noor-2 satellite in northeastern Shahroud Desert, Iran (Iranian state television via AP)
Iran's Space Organization has taken delivery of a domestically produced remote sensing satellite, the "Tolu’-3" (Sunrise-3), scheduled for launch after successfully passing all required tests.
Manufactured by Iran Electronics Industries, a subsidiary of the Iranian Defense Ministry, the satellite weighs over 100 kilograms and offers a 5-meter resolution in panchromatic mode and a 10-meter resolution in multispectral mode for imaging.
The Tolu’-3 satellite will be placed in the Low Earth Orbit (LEO) to capture and transmit images for various applications, including agriculture, water resource management, and disaster response. This remote-sensing satellite is now included in Iran's annual satellite launch schedule.
Back in July, the spokesperson of the Iranian Space Agency (ISA) Hossein Daliriyan announced that the country's Khayyam satellite has started monitoring and mapping land use changes.
It is worth noting that Iran began the operational phase of the Qassem Soleimani satellite system in January as part of the Islamic Republic's 10-year space program.
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The big picture
Iran began its space program in the early 2000s, building its own satellite launcher on the Shahab-4 missile. The Semnan launch pad in the country's north was built in 2009.
Due to high costs, Iran's space program was suspended between 2015 and 2017. Two civilian test launches failed in 2019, but the Iranian military successfully launched two satellites into orbit in 2020 and March 2022.
In May 2022, the head of the Iranian Space Agency said his country was continuing the production of indigenous satellites, with plans to launch in March 2023 seven homegrown satellites.
The spacecraft planned to launch in 2023 includes the Iranian Nahid, Pars-1, and Zafar satellites, which Tehran already has in its arsenal. The remaining four are still under construction.
The satellite series of Nahid, Pars-1, and Zafar are up there as the most modern Iranian spacecraft. They were designed for telecommunication purposes and for measuring radiation in space.
