Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr.13
By Fatih Karimov - Trend: Iran plans to design and build a new national satellite in the current Iranian fiscal year, which began on March 20, said Mahmoud Vaezi, Iran's Telecommunication and Information Technology Minister.
He added that one of the domestically produced satellites will also be sent into space in the current year, Iran's Mehr news agency reported April 13.
"We need currently to have a national satellite to provide telecommunication services to remote villages," he noted.
"To provide such services, we are currently using rented satellites. This is while our neighboring countries have two or three national satellites."
The country launched its first indigenous satellite Omid (Hope), in 2009, and also sent its first bio-capsule containing living creatures into space in February 2010, using the indigenous Kavoshgar-3 (Explorer-3) carrier.
Iran also plans to send a man into space in the next several years. Iran Space Agency director Hamid Fazeli said last September that the agency has a plan to send a man into space, and 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.
Fazeli earlier announced that Iran would launch Tadbir, Sharif, and Fajr satellites into space by the end of the current Iranian year, which ends on March 20, 2015.
Iran has launched its fourth domestically produced satellite into space.
Dubbed "Fajr", the satellite was sent into space by the Iranian-produced satellite carrier Safir. The Fajr satellite is a reconnaissance satellite powered by solar energy.
Edited by CN