Iran preparing for three satellite launches

Senior Iranian officials announced that the country plans to orbit three new domestically-manufactured satellites on the back of three Iran-made carriers in the near future.\"The satellites named Fajr (Dawn), Navid (Promise) and Tolou (Sunrise) will be launched during the current Iranian year (ending on March 19),\" Iranian Defense Minister Brigadier General Ahmad Vahidi told a gathering on Iran\'s satellite carrier systems. \"Fajr satellite would be carried by Safir-e Fajr carrier and Tolou by Simorgh (Phoenix) booster. Our country would take the first step in manufacturing the new generations of Iranian carriers by using Simorgh rocket,\" he added. The minister did not give details about the function of the satellites. Navid is a research satellite, which was designed by scientists at the University of Science and Technology in Tehran. It weighs 50 kilograms and can take pictures at low altitudes of about 250 kilometers to 375 kilometers from the Earth. Iran launched its first domestically-produced satellite Omid ( Hope) in 2009 and sent small animals into space in 2010. Tehran plans to send a man into space by 2020. In February, Iran unveiled the prototypes of four domestically-built satellites of Rassad (Observation), Fajr, Zafar (Victory) and Amir Kabir-1. It also displayed the engines of a Safir-B1 ( Ambassador-B1) rocket. Fajr is the first remote-sensing satellite of the country, manufactured by Iran\'s Defense Ministry, with the capability of changing from the elliptical orbit of 300-450 kg to a circular orbit of 450 kg which increases the lifetime of the satellite by one and a half years. Zafar, which is scheduled to be launched in 2012, weighs 90 kilograms and will revolve around the globe in an elliptical orbit at 500 kilometers. In June, Iran launched Rassad-1 (Observation-1) satellite into space with the Safir rocket and put it into orbit 260 kilometers above the earth. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said in June that Iran had obtained the technology to develop different satellites and would launch larger satellites that could be placed in circular orbits at an altitude of nearly 35,000 kilometers.