Tehran has been developing its aerospace activities for years
Iran “successfully” launched a new probe satelliteas official media reported today, a new stage in the development of the country’s aerospace activities despite Western sanctions.
The Sorayya satellite, which belongs to the Iranian Space Agency, “was successfully launched today by the Ghaem-100 rocket of the Revolutionary Guards,” state television said.
It was placed into an orbit 750 kilometers above Earth — it is “the first time” Iran has sent a satellite “above 500 kilometers,” according to Iran’s official Irna news agency.
Telecommunications Minister Isa Zarepour said Sorayya is “a research satellite weighing about 50 kilograms”.
The Iran has been developing its aerospace activities for years and maintains that they are peaceful and in line with a UN Security Council resolution.
But Western governments fear that its satellite launch systems incorporate technologies that can be interchanged with those used in ballistic missiles capable of carrying a nuclear warhead, APE reported.
The Ghaem-100 missile was developed by the Revolutionary Guards, the Islamic Republic’s ideological army, which announced in September that it had launched the Nour-3 imaging satellite 450 kilometers above Earth.
The Islamic Republic of Iran has been subject to tough US sanctions since Washington pulled out in 2018 from an international deal aimed at curtailing Iran’s nuclear activities in exchange for the lifting of international sanctions.
