Iran Launches New Home-Made Satellite into Orbit
News number: 9010173437 15:54 | 2012-02-03
http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.php?nn=9010173437

TEHRAN (FNA)- Iran on Friday successfully sent its domestically-made
satellite named 'Navid-e Elm-o Sana'at' (Promise of Science and Industry)
into orbit.

The satellite was sent to space following a decree by Iranian President
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Friday morning via videoconference.

Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi, Minister of Science, Research and
Technology Kamran Daneshjou and Head of State Spatial Organization Hamid
Fazeli attended the control panel for the launch of the satellite.

The satellite, completely designed and built by Iranian experts, blasted
into orbit on the occasion of the 10-Day Dawn celebrations, marking the 33rd
anniversary of the victory of Iran's Islamic Revolution in 1979.

The 50-kilogram orbiter lifted off into space with an orbital angle of 55
degrees on the Iranian-made Safir satellite-carrier.

Head of Iran Space Agency (ISA) Hamid Fazeli said the domestically-built
Navid satellite will circle the Earth at altitudes between 250 and 370
kilometers.

Navid-e Elm-o Sanat is a telecom, measurement and scientific satellite whose
records could be used in a wide range of fields.

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.