Iran’s Pars 1 satellite enters space after launch by Russia

Russia launched into space an Iranian research satellite which will scan Iran’s topography from an orbit of 500 km (310 miles), Iran’s state media reported on Thursday.

The remote Pars 1 research-sensing satellite, launched by a Russian Soyuz rocket from the Vostochny Cosmodrome, weighs 134 kg (295 pounds) and is equipped with three cameras.

The cosmodrome, which came into service in 2016, is in the Amur region of Russia’s Far East, not far from the Russian border with China and about 1,500 km (930 miles) from the port of Vladivostok.

“Our current domestic launch bases do not yet have the ability of injecting satellites at the right inclination for a sun-synchronous orbit, hence our use of a Russian launch base,” Iran’s Information and Communications Minister Issa Zarepour told state TV.

Russia sent Iran’s remote Khayyam sensing satellite into orbit in 2022 from Kazakhstan’s Baikonur Cosmodrome, reflecting deeper scientific cooperation between the two US-sanctioned countries.