QOM - Director of Iran’s aerospace development center announced on Thursday that Tolou (sunrise) and Fajr (dawn) satellites will be sent to space in the future months.

Abbas Ebrahimi said Fajr satellite will be launched during the current Iranian year (which ends on March 19, 2012) aboard the Safir satellite launcher.

Fajr satellite will carry out remote sensing and topography missions. 

Ebrahimi went on to say that Tolou satellite will probably be launched by the Simorgh (phoenix) satellite carrier.

Tolou will be ready for launch in June 2012 and it will travel in an orbit of 500 kilometers above from the earth’s equator, he explained. 

He added it can stay in space for longer time and its fuel system has also been improved.

Ebrahimi also said the Islamic Republic plans to build satellites with higher efficiencies.

Rasad (observation) and Omid (hope) satellites accomplished their missions successfully, he stated. 

Rasad was designed to carry out topography missions and produce high resolution maps. 

Director of Iran’s aerospace development center said light weight was the most important characteristic of Rasad.

Rasad’s mission was establishing contact with Earth stations, obtaining orders from those stations, image taking from the Earth and dispatching those images along with telemetry information back to the Earth stations.

Omid satellite stayed in the space for 50 days and its mission was to receive a signal and send a signal which was done in 2 days, he explained.