The rocket carrying the Payam satellite failed to reach the “necessary speed” in the third stage of its launch, Jahromi told the state TV on Tuesday.
According to him, the rocket had successfully passed its first and second stages before developing problems in the third. He did not elaborate on what caused the rocket failure.
Payam (meaning ‘message’ in Persian) was designed and developed by experts of Amirkabir University of Technology to carry out imagery and telecommunication missions. It was aimed to orbit the Earth at an altitude of 500 kilometers to take surveying images at high resolutions.
Jahromi promised that domestic scientists would continue their hard work, saying another home-made satellite, dubbed ‘Dousti’, is waiting to be launched.
Meaning “friendship” in Persian, ‘Dousti’ is a micro-class 52-kilogram satellite developed by the experts from Sharif University of Technology.
It is a remote-sensing satellite, which will orbit the Earth at an altitude of between 250 km and 310 km, commonly known as Low Earth Orbit.
Iran has successfully launched other satellites into orbit with the country’s Safir-1, Safir-1A and Safir-1B rockets.
The satellites made in Iran so far have been remote sensing satellites, while the efforts for producing local telecoms satellites began three years ago.
MR/4513377
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