Iran Launches Nahid-2 Satellite into Space

The Iranian Space Agency (ISA) announced that the satellite was launched from Vostochny Cosmodrome, a space launch facility in Eastern Russia, on board a Soyuz rocket.

It also confirmed receiving the first round of “telemetray data” — data collected and transmitted automatically by a satellite — from the orbiter which showed the satellite’s flawless deployment and proper functioning.

The orbiter boasts being designed and built by Iranian scientists and engineers under the Ministry of Information and Communications Technology, with key support from the Space Research Center and a coalition of domestic knowledge-based firms.

Designed to deliver a wide array of communications and research capabilities, Nahid-2 will support secure data transmission, onboard storage, and direct connectivity between satellite systems and mission control.

Earlier reports, in January, also said that an advanced version of the Kowsar satellite, named Kowsar 1.5, would be launched into the space in the first half of current Persian calendar year (started on March 21).

The Kowsar 1.5 satellite, the result of the efforts of the Iranian experts, is an upgraded version of the Kowsar and Hodhod satellites that were launched into space earlier this year. The two satellites play a key role in the development of precision agriculture with their remote sensing (Kowsar) and Internet of Things (Hodhod) missions.

“The combined version of the Kowsar and Hodhod missions, named Kowsar 1.5, will be launched in the first half of next year, and efforts are being made to design and produce a system of these satellites by attracting capital,” Hossein Shahrabi, the managing director of a company active in designing and manufacturing light and low-cost satellites, was quoted by the Iranian Vice-Presidency for Science, Technology and Knowledge-Based Economy as saying.

Two domestically-manufactured Iranian satellites were successfully launched into space in November in a debut entrance by the country’s private sector in the space industry.

Kowsar and Hodhod were launched into orbit from the Vostochny spaceport in eastern Russia in November, using a Russian Soyuz satellite launcher.

The development marked the first triumphant attempt by the Islamic Republic’s private sector towards production of satellites and their placement into orbit and was, therefore, deemed as an important and unprecedented step in the country’s space industry.

Kowsar is a remote-sensing satellite with the capability to capture high-resolution imagery for various purposes across the agricultural, natural resources, environmental, and crisis management fields among other areas.

Hodhod has, meanwhile, been described as a small-sized satellite with communication applications, including creation of communication networks and contributions to the Internet of Things (IoT).

The latter could be used towards provision of communication services in remote and inaccessible areas, where land communication networks are not available.

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