Iran to launch its 1st communication satellite in current year
IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency
Tehran, July 20, IRNA
Iran-Satellite
Deputy minister of communication and information technology (CIT) Hassan Shafti here Wednesday said that the first communication satellite is expected to be launched within the current Iranian year (ending March 20).
He told IRNA that the satellite is designed and being constructed in cooperation with Italian experts.
Shafti said that out of the five satellites to be constructed, three will be launched to the space over the next three years.
The space model of the first satellite scheduled to be launched before March 20, which is dubbed `Mesbah', is now ready. The second one, which is multi-mission and larger than Mesbah, will be launched next year.
Turning to participation of China and Thailand in the construction of the second satellite, he put the percentage of Iran's and Thailand's investment shares in the project at 15 and five percent respectively.
He referred to the third one, called `Zohreh', as the greatest national communication satellite to be designed and constructed by Russia in three years under the supervision of Iran.
The first session of the High Space Council was held on Tuesday.
It was chaired by President Mohammad Khatami and attended by CIT minister.
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