Iran unveils new satellite

Iran unveiled its new home-made satellite, Tadbir (Prudence), in an official ceremony in Tehran on Monday. Tadbir was unveiled in a ceremony attended by Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, Vice President for Executive Affairs Mohammad Shariatmadari and the country’s space officials. Last month, former Chancellor of Science and Industry University Mohammad Saeed Jabal Ameli told reporters that Navid 2 satellite which was renamed as Tadbir by the eleventh government (President Rouhani’s government) would be sent into the space in the near future. He said that the satellite had been built by the Iranian researchers at Science and Industry University and delivered to Iran's Space Agency (ISA) in November. “At present, the satellite is passing the final tests in ISA and is being transferred to the launch pad,” Jebel Ameli said. Also in December, a senior ISA official said that Tehran would orbit two new home-made satellites by the end of the Iranian calendar year (March 20, 2014). "Tests are being conducted on the two satellites of Sharif and Tadbir before the launching process," Hamid Fazeli said. Early in September, Presidential Advisor and the ISA Chief Akbar Torkan said that the first satellite to be launched in the new government is called Tadbir." Earlier this year, Fazeli announced that the country would send 6 new home-made satellites, mostly made by Iranian universities, to the space in the current Iranian year. "Based on the foreseen timeline, Fajr, Sharif Sat, Tolou, Zafar, and A-Test will be sent to the space by the end of the current year," Fazeli told reporters in Tehran. He said that Mesbah is also among the satellites to be sent into orbit this year. Omid (hope) was Iran's first research satellite that was designed for gathering information and testing equipment. After orbiting for three months, Omid successfully completed its mission without any problem. It completed more than 700 orbits over seven weeks and reentered the Earth's atmosphere on April 25, 2009.