Iran to send Student satellite to orbit

Iran's Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi announced on Sunday that the country plans to send a satellite made by Iranian university students 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)". Iran has made giant progress in space technology in recent years and produced its own satellite, carrier, launch pad, land stations for satellite data transfer and communication and even started laboratory tests for sending man into space. On Tuesday, Head of Iran's Space Agency Hamid Fazeli renewed his earlier promise that Iran would send a live monkey into space, but did not give any specific date for action. Fazeli had said in mid-June that Iran plans to launch a Kavoshgar-5 rocket with a 285-kilogram capsule carrying a monkey to an altitude of 120 kilometers (74 miles)." "Our scientists are exerting continuous efforts on this project... our colleagues are busy with empirical studies and sub-system testing of this project so it is a success," he said on Tuesday. In mid-March, Iran's space organization announced the launch of the Kavoshgar-4 rocket carrying a test capsule designed to house the monkey. The capsule had been unveiled in February by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, along with four new prototypes of home-built satellites the country hopes to launch before March 2012. At the time, Fazeli called the launch of a large animal into space as the first step towards sending a man into space, which Tehran says is scheduled for 2020. Iran has already sent small animals into space - a rat, turtles and worms - aboard a capsule carried by its Kavoshgar-3 rocket in 2010. The Islamic republic, which first put a satellite into orbit in 2009, has outlined an ambitious space program and has, thus far, made giant progress in the field despite western sanctions and pressures against its advancement. Iran announced in February that it planned to unveil and send two recently-built satellites into space in the near future. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announced in 2010 that Iran plans to send astronauts into space in 2024. But, later he said that the issue had gone under a second study at a cabinet meeting and that the cabinet had decided to implement the plan in 2019, five years earlier than the date envisaged in the original plan. Omid (hope) was Iran's first research satellite that was designed for gathering information and testing equipment. After orbiting for three months, Omid successfully completed its mission without any problem. It completed more than 700 orbits over seven weeks and reentered the Earth's atmosphere on April 25, 2009. After launching Omid, Tehran unveiled three new satellites called Tolou, Mesbah II and Navid, respectively. Iran has also unveiled its latest achievements in designing and producing satellite carriers very recently. A new generation of home-made satellites and a new satellite carrier called Simorgh (Phoenix) were among the latest achievements unveiled by Iran's aerospace industries. The milk-bottle shaped rocket is equipped to carry a 60-kilogram (132-pound) satellite 500 kilometers (310 miles) into orbit. The 27-meter (90 foot) tall multi-stage rocket weighs 85 tons and its liquid fuel propulsion system has a thrust of up to 143 tons. Iran is one of the 24 founding members of the United Nations' Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (UNCOPUOS), which was set up in 1959.