Iran preparing for several satellite launches

Iran plans to orbit several satellites in the near future.Iranian officials have announced that they intend to launch the domestically- built Navid (Hope) satellite on the back of a Safir carrier to the space by the end of March 2012. Navid (promise) is a research satellite and is currently undergoing pre-launch tests. Iran's Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi announced on Sunday that the country plans to send Navid satellite into the space later this year. "Navid-e Elm-o San'at (Hope of Science and Industry) satellite which has been built by the students of the University of Science and Industry will be launched this year," Vahidi told FNA on Sunday. Vahidi said the university had asked the Defense Ministry to launch the satellite, and underlined that his ministry "is trying to launch this student satellite into the space in the current (Iranian) year (ending on March 20, 2012)". Navid is a domestically-manufactured 50 kilogram satellite, which can take pictures in low altitudes of about 250 to 375 kilometers from the Earth. The Science and Industry University officials announced on Saturday that Navid has been successfully tested and will be delivered to the launch center to be put into orbit in the next three to four months. Meantime, Head of Satellite Technical Support Department at Tehran's University of Science and Technology, Hossein Bolandi, said late on Saturday that Iran would send the Zafar (Triumph) satellite into space in 2012. According to Bolandi, Zafar is an advanced satellite which will have the mission to take high resolution wall maps and aerial photos of locations around the globe as seen from space. He added that Zafar satellite weighs 90 kilograms and will be placed in elliptical orbit of 500 kilometers in radius. Zafar will have a lifespan of one year and six months and will capture images with a resolution of 80 meters and then transmit them to stations on earth. Bolandi said the control system of Zafar is three time more accurate than that of Navid. In June, Iran put the Rasad (surveillance) satellite in the orbit to render images to the country. Iran put a satellite into orbit in 2009 and sent some small animals into space in 2010. It plans to send man into space by 2020.