Baku, Azerbaijan, July 21
By Fatih Karimov - Trend:
Iran Space Agency has prepared a strategic plan to send man to space, the IRNA news agency reported on July 21.
The plan has been prepared within the framework of the national roadmap for scientific development.
The plan also suggests putting telecommunication and remote sensing satellites into orbit.
In May, Iran Space Agency director Hamid Fazeli announced that Iran will launch Tadbir, Sharif, and Fajr satellites into space by the end of the current Iranian year which ends on March 20, 2015.
Meanwhile, the head of Iran's Aerospace Research Institute Mohammad Ebrahimi said the country plans to launch a new generation of space explorers weighing 300-500 kg, which will jet-boost in higher altitudes compared to the previous rockets, FARS news agency reported.
Ebrahimi told Mehr News Agency that Iran's Aerospace Research Institute has an orbital and suborbital project to send the living creature to the space.
He said, "first we will send the living creature to suborbital space and then with the advancement of the technology, it would be sent orbital space and beyond; our ultimate goal is sending the first man from Iran to the space."
Ebrahimi said that in current Iranian year (started March 21) the institute had several plans to send the new generation of explorers to space and added that like the new explorers, they are not cylindrical, but like world standard explorers.
He said that to reach the capability to send a man to the space first Iran should send an object up to 150-200 kilometers height suborbital space and then, "we should send this object to space to the orbit of 250 kilometers around the earth, both plans need a carrier".