Baku, Azerbaijan, March 17
By Fatih Karimov - Trend: Returning the Mesbah satellite to Iran will be possible after lifting sanctions,IRNA quoted the head of Iranian Space Agency (ISA), Hamid Fazeli, as saying on March 17.
One of the first satellites manufactured by Iran, Mesbah cost 100 trillion rials (about $4 million) to be built.
The satellite was transferred to Italy for further tests and experiments. But, Italy refused to hand over the satellite to Iran under the pretext of UN Security Council resolutions slapped against the Islamic Republic.
He pointed out that Tehran has started consultations with Italian authorities in order to retrieve the satellite.
Italy agreed to assist Iran in the building and launch of Mesbah satellite in February 2003.
Iran's Ministry of Science, Research and Technology and the Italian company, Carlo Gavazzi Space, were jointly involved in the project.
Mesbah satellite weighs 75 kilograms and is designed to circle the Earth 14 times a day. The satellite was never launched as both Russia andItaly refused to cooperate with Iran on space projects.
Edited by C.N.