Tehran. December 28: Iran on Saturday successfully launched three of its indigenous surveillance satellites into space in collaboration with Russia. According to state television, these satellites were placed in orbit using a Soyuz rocket from Russia’s Vostochny Cosmodrome. The move is seen as another advance in Iran’s space program despite Western sanctions.
According to the report, the satellites launched include Jafar-2, Paya and Kosar 1.5. Iranian news agency IRNA reported that these satellites have been designed by the country’s private sector and will be used in Earth observation related work. Paya has been described as Iran’s most advanced imaging satellite so far, in which the quality of images is improved with the help of Artificial Intelligence. It will be used in areas like water resources management, environmental monitoring and mapping.
According to Fars news agency, the Soyuz rocket was chosen because of its reliability for launching sensitive satellites. Iran has launched a total of 10 satellites in the last two years, one of which was from the same Russian launch site in July this year.
However, Western countries have expressed fears that satellite launch technology could also be used in ballistic missile systems. Iran has rejected these allegations and reiterated that its space program is peaceful and it is not trying to acquire nuclear weapons.
Comments are closed.