UN official hails Iran\'s rapid progress in space technology

Director of the United Nations\' Office for Outer Space Affairs Mazlan Othman praised Iranian scientists and researchers for their eye-catching progress in space technology. \"Iran is an active member of the Space Technology and Disaster Management (program) and therefore the UN has set up one of its offices active in the field of natural disaster management in Iran,\" Othman told reporters in Tehran on Wednesday. \"Iran has shown good partnership in space infrastructures and peaceful activities in the field of space, and building satellite launchers shows the country\'s peaceful use of the space, and that it is faced with no problem in this regard,\" she added. Iran has taken rapid strides in improving its capabilities in building different satellites and launchers. Early in September, a senior advisor to Iran\'s President Hassan Rouhani announced that Tehran is preparing to orbit a new home-made satellite, called Tadbir, in the near future. “As stated by (former Iran Space Agency (ISA) Chief Hamid) Fazeli, the first satellite to be launched in the new government is called Tadbir,” Presidential Advisor and the new ISA Chief Akbar Torkan said. Earlier this year, Chancellor of Iran’s Sharif University of Technology Reza Rousta Azad announced that Iran would launch into orbit a new home-made satellite, called \'Sharif Sat\', soon. “We are through with building Sharif Sat and the satellite is waiting for launch,” Rousta Azad told FNA in June. Rousta Azad said that Sharif Sat would orbit at a distance around 500 kilometers from the Earth, adding that the satellite would be launched on the back of home-made \'Safir B1\' (Ambassador B1) carrier. 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.