Iran puts homegrown imaging satellite into orbit
Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Aerospace Force successfully launched the homegrown imaging satellite Nour-3 into orbit on Wednesday morning.
Iran’s Minister of Communications and Information Technology Issa Zarepour said the Nour-3 imaging satellite was successfully placed into an orbit 450 kilometers (280 miles) above the Earth’s surface with the Iranian Qased satellite carrier.
The Commander of the IRGC’s Aerospace Division Brigadier General Amir-Ali Hajizadeh said the Nour-3 satellite is equipped with cameras and collects data.
He said that two more satellites will be put into orbit in the coming months.
Meanwhile, the IRGC’s Commander Major General Hossein Salami said the data, information, and images taken by the new satellite from Earth’s surface will be gathered to complete and fulfill “the IRGC’s intelligence requirements.”
Despite sanctions imposed by Western countries in recent years, Iran has managed to take giant strides in its civilian space program. It is among the world’s top 10 countries capable of developing and launching satellites. The first installment of the Nour satellites was successfully launched in April 2020 into an orbit 425 kilometers (265 miles) above the Earth. It became the first military reconnaissance satellite launched by Iran after several failed attempts.
The second installment reached a low orbit of 500 kilometers (310 miles) in early 2022 using the mixed-fuel carrier.
In August 2022, an Iranian satellite — said to be capable of taking high-resolution images — was successfully launched from a base in Kazakhstan.