Iran to Launch 2 Indigenized Satellites in December in Cooperation with Russia

'Kowsar' and 'Hodhod' satellites, constructed by an Iranian consortium of knowledge-based companies, are planned to be sent into an orbit 500 km above the Earth's surface by a foreign launch vehicle.

Kowsar is an observation satellite with an imaging resolution of 3.5 meters per pixel, which can be used for agricultural purposes, surveying and demarcation. The satellite has an orbital lifespan of two years.

The Hodhod satellite is planed to be used in the area of the Internet of Things, agriculture, transportation and crisis management scenarios.

Omid Faza company, founded by Hossein Shahrabi Farahani, the former head of Sairan Space Group, the manager of the national Omid satellite project and several other launched satellites, and a group of Amirkabir University students, has been developing Kowsar satellite.

Reports in February 2022 said that Kowsar satellite had reached the testing and assembly stage after two years of development efforts by the consortium.

Iran launched its first satellite, called Omid (literally meaning hope), in 2009. Rasad (literally meaning observation) satellite was also sent into orbit in 2011.

In 2012, Iran successfully put its third domestically manufactured satellite, named Navid (literally meaning promise), into orbit.

The first and most advanced homegrown remote-sensing satellite is Pars-1, which has been designed and constructed by the researchers of the Iranian Space Research Center.

Pars-1 is supposed to take pictures of all parts of the country using a high-resolution 15-meter-camera and send its photos from a 500-kilometer distance to the earth stations using a high-powered telecommunication transceiver.

According to previous reports, the Iranian Space Agency has plans to launch a number of satellites, including Pars-1, Pars-2, Zafar-2, and Nahid-2.

In February, the Iranian Space Agency announced that the Kosar satellite, designed and launched by 8 technological companies, was scheduled to be in a 500-kilometer orbit by the current [Iranian calendar] year (which began on March 21).

Iran is among the 10 countries with the know-how of space technology and is the 11th country in the world in terms of space science and the leading country in the region.

Iran’s global ranking in space technology has improved from 95 in 1996 to 11 in 2017.

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