Iran entered the global space race in February 2009 with the launch of its first domestically produced satellite, Omid (Hope).
This was followed by the deployment of several remote sensing satellites developed by local universities, with resolutions ranging from tens to hundreds of meters.
Nearly two decades later, Iran now manufactures a range of advanced communications and remote sensing satellites with improved technologies and accuracy.
Recently, two Iranian satellites, Kowsar and Hodhod, were launched by the country’s private sector from the Vostochny spaceport in eastern Russia using a Russian Soyuz rocket.
This marks a significant milestone for Iran’s private sector in satellite production and deployment.
Kowsar is a remote-sensing satellite capable of capturing high-resolution images for agriculture, natural resource management, environmental monitoring, and crisis management.
Hassan Salarieh, head of Iran’s Space Agency, announced that this launch is the second of its kind since the previous March when Iran successfully launched the Chamran satellite aboard its Qa’em space launch vehicle (SLV).
Hodhod, a smaller satellite, has communication capabilities, aiding in the creation of networks and supporting the Internet of Things (IoT), particularly in remote areas without land communication.
On September 14, Iran also launched the domestically developed Chamran 1 research satellite into orbit at an altitude of 550 kilometers (341 miles) using the Qaem-100 SLV.
Earlier on January 28, 2024, the Islamic Republic successfully put three homegrown satellites including Mahda, Keyhan-2, and Hatef-1 into space orbits with minimum and maximum altitudes of 450 km and 1,100 km above the Earth's surface, getting close to reaching the Geostationary Orbit (GEO), also known as geosynchronous orbit, after years.
On May 6, 2020, in pointing to the achievement of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in launching the Nour Satellite into space, the Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei stated, “Unfortunately, some people in the country constantly say that it’s impossible and that we can’t; however, we are perfectly capable. The reason for this is that when we are capable of launching a satellite into space with a speed of 7,500 m/s, can successfully put the satellite in orbit, and can make great progress in the area of defense industries, we are equally capable of achieving a surge in production.”
He added that the wisdom and thought that can build such a satellite and set themselves the goal of launching another satellite with an orbit of 36,000 kilometers have the spirit, innovation, and creativity to build automobiles with a 5 L/100 km fuel consumption rate and develop other areas of production.
Reported by Tohid Mahmoudpour