Iranian Rocket can Carry Low-Orbit Satellites
19 August 2008
http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.php?nn=8705291133

TEHRAN (FNA)- Iran on Tuesday said that a home-built rocket sent into space
will be able to take a satellite into low orbit around the earth.

Defense Minister Mostafa Mohammad Najjar also vowed that Iran will soon put
its own satellite into orbit, after a dummy was sent into space in Monday's
rocket launch.

Iran declared the test a success for its plan over the next two years to
launch four satellites for research, especially for improvement of
telecommunications and monitoring of natural disasters.

The Safir-e Omid (Ambassador of Hope) rocket, which is about 22 meters long,
with a diameter of 1.25 meters, weighs more than 26 tons and is capable of
putting a light satellite into low earth orbit between 250 and 500
kilometers above the earth.

Safir-e Omid rocket, which is Iran's first domestically-produced satellite
carrier, was successfully launched on Sunday in the presence of President
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who read out the launch countdown.

The rocket, built by Iranian experts, was launched on the auspicious
occasion of birthday anniversary of Imam Mahdi, the 12th Imam of Prophet
Mohammad (PBUH) Infallible Household.

Brigadier General Najjar also hailed the launch of the Safir 1 satellite
carrier as a triumph in domestic scientific and technological progress.

"Iranian scientists are always reaching new peaks in scientific and
technological progress," Najjar said.

Referring to the satellite-carrier rocket as "a precise guided launcher,"
the minister said Safir 1 "can carry different satellites into the space and
put them in pre-planned position."

All parts of the rocket were produced inside the country and by Iranian
experts, Najjar said adding that all pre-planned goals have been achieved by
launching the satellite.

"The successful launch of Safir 1 shows that Iran has access to the
ultra-modern technology required to manufacture, launch and track satellites
as well as transmit and receive information from them," he added.

Tehran has said it would help other Islamic states to launch satellites into
the orbit.

The Head of the Iranian Aerospace Organization Reza Taqipour told press tv
that the Safir launch will pave the way for Iran to send its
domestically-built telecommunications satellite, Omid (Hope), into orbit "in
the near future".

"The main aim of the launch of Safir 1 was to reach a pre-planned orbit and
to improve the country's space industries," Taqipour said.

Taqipour said Iran has plans to put a "series of satellites" into space by
2010 to aid natural disaster management programs and improve
telecommunications.