Iran not too long ago test-launched a brand new rocket, based on the nation’s state tv on Monday (Feb. eight).
Throughout the broadcast, Ahmad Hosseini, a spokesperson for the Iranian Protection Ministry’s house division, mentioned that the take a look at was “the primary launch of the Zoljanah hybrid satellite tv for pc service [rocket] for suborbital testing,” according to the worldwide information company Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Iran is an autocratic regime that generally releases little information about its space activities.
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Zoljanah is a three-stage rocket with two strong propulsion levels and one liquid one, and might be launched from a cell platform, which supplies “particular capabilities,” Hosseini mentioned, based on the report. He mentioned that the rocket can ship a satellite tv for pc of as much as 1,100 lbs. (220 kilograms) to a 310-mile (500-kilometer) orbit. For comparability, the Worldwide Area Station orbits at an altitude of roughly at 250 miles (400 km).
State tv confirmed the rocket “being launched in a desert space,” based on the AFP, however didn’t disclose the placement or time of the take a look at. The launch was reportedly finished in Semnan province, which is the place the federal government’s house middle is positioned, the report added.
The take a look at was carried out nearly one 12 months after Iran reportedly despatched its first army satellite tv for pc into orbit in April 2020, aboard a two-stage Qassad rocket that lifted off from the Markazi Desert in Central Iran. U.S. monitoring knowledge obtainable at the moment confirmed that the spacecraft safely reached orbit.
Iran had made another attempt to send a satellite aloft in February 2020, however the Zafar 1 spacecraft did not choose up sufficient velocity to make it safely into Earth orbit, based on reviews at the moment. Satellite imagery has provided evidence of different previous Iranian rocket launches that did not make it.
Comply with Elizabeth Howell on Twitter @howellspace. Comply with us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Fb.
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