Iran's new satellite ready for launch

Iran is preparing to launch another indigenously-made satellite into space in the near future, Chancellor of Sharif University of Technology Mahmoud Fotouhi announced on Friday.

"Sharif Sat 2 has been manufactured by Iranian researchers and is ready to be sent into orbit," Fotouhi told FNA today.

He noted that the researchers of Sharif University of Technology have prepared both Sharif Sat 1 and 2 and they are waiting to be launched.

In November 2014, Iranian Vice-President Mohammad Shariatmadari announced that Tehran was preparing to orbit its new home-made satellite, 'Sharif Sat'.

"The Iranian Defense Ministry which is in charge of launching the country's satellites into orbit has announced its readiness to put Sharif Sat into orbit before February 11, 2015 which marks the anniversary of the victory of the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran," Shariatmadari said.

Last year, Deputy Head of Iran's Space Agency Hamid Fazeli announced that the country will send 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.

Sharif Sat will orbit at a distance around 500 kilometers from the Earth and it will be launched on the back of home-made 'Safir B1' (Ambassador B1) carrier.

Iran had sent small animals into space - a rat, turtles and worms - aboard a capsule carried by its Kavoshgar-3 rocket in 2010.

Iran has taken wide strides in aerospace. The country sent the first biocapsule of living creatures into space in February 2011, using its home-made Kavoshgar-3 (Explorer-3) carrier.