Eurasia Press & News
TEHRAN (FNA)- A joint research satellite of Iran, China and Thailand was launched on a Chinese rocket yesterday aimed at boosting cooperation on natural disasters such as earthquakes, an Iranian minister said yesterday.
The announcement came just a few weeks after Iran successfully put a dummy satellite into orbit on a domestically made rocket for the first time.
Minister of Communication and Information Technology Mohamed Soleimani said the three countries had worked together on the satellite which he said was equipped with cameras.
“This morning it was launched successfully and it was placed into orbit,” he said.
“Several countries contributed to the design and construction of the rocket, but Iran, China and Thailand completed the project and are entitled to use the data provided by the satellite,” Soleimani said.
He said that the satellite is equipped with several cameras and will send videos and pictures of Earth to ground station
“Iran and China and regional countries are countries which have a lot of natural disasters,” he said.
The satellite is aimed at forecasting natural disasters such as floods, earthquakes, deforestation and reduction of water resources, the official said.
“God willing, we can have good activities in the direction of aerospace research,” he added.
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who visited Beijing on Saturday, last month said Iran planned to launch a telecommunications satellite.
The head of Iran’s aerospace organization, Reza Taghipour, said last month that Iran was working with Russia and other Asian states to launch a satellite and also that it would cooperate with Islamic states in building one.
Taqipour said Iran plans to design and build a satellite called Besharat in collaboration with the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC).
He also announced that the country would send man into space by the year 2021.
