Azerbaijan, Baku, Oct. 28 /Trend, N. Umid
Iran's home-made satellite carrier Simorgh is under construction, deputy head of Iran Space Agency (ISA), Hamid Fazeli said, IRNA news agency reported.
He went on to note that, Simorgh is the main Iranian satellite carrier project and will be launched next solar year (will be started on March 21, 2014).
Iranian Zafar, Tolou, Autsat and Amirkabir satellites scheduled to be carried by Simorgh, Fazeli said.
Simorgh is an Iranian expendable small-capacity orbital carrier rocket, which has a length of 27 metres, and weight of 85 tons.
Its first stage is powered by four main engines, each generating up to 29,000 kilograms (64,000 lb) of thrust, plus a fifth which will be used for attitude control, which provides an additional 13,600 kilograms (30,000 lb).
Simorgh is capable of putting a 60-kilogram (130 lb) payload into a 500-kilometre (310 mi) low Earth orbit.
According to the ISNA news agency, the engine could be used in future rockets capable of carrying 700-kilogram (1,500 lb) satellites into 1,000-kilometre (620 mi) orbits.
Earli in October, Fazeli said that Iran plans to launch three indigenously designed and manufactured satellites into orbit in six months.