TEHRAN- A homegrown Earth remote sensing satellite has been delivered to the Iranian Space Agency (ISA) and is now prepared to be launched into a low Earth orbit (LEO).

The Tolou-3 (Sunrise-3) satellite was given to the state agency on Saturday by Iran Electronics Industries, a unit of the Defense Ministry.

It was delivered after successfully undergoing all tests. 

Tolou-3, with a weight of 150 kilograms, is said to be Iran’s heaviest satellite.

The satellite has a five-meter spatial resolution and can take photographs in black and white. In color mode, it also provides a 10-meter resolution.

Tolou-3 will be launched into an orbit 500 kilometers above the Earth and heavily depends on tools and equipment made by Iranian knowledge-based industries.

According to reports, it will send photographs for use n a variety of industries, including agriculture, water resources, and disaster management.

The Earth remote sensing satellite is now on the list of Iranian satellites, which will be launched according to an annual timetable.

In 2009, Iran launched its first satellite, Omid (Hope), and then in 2011, Rasad (Observation) was placed into orbit.

The Islamic Republic successfully launched Navid (Promise), its third homegrown satellite, into orbit in 2012.

Iran declared the successful launch of its first military satellite into orbit in April 2020. It also launched a second military satellite into orbit in March 2022.

Back in August, ISA announced the launch of the production process of “Pars-3”, Iran’s “state-of-the-art and accurate” satellite.

The ISA chief, Hassan Salarieh, said, “Previously, we had given some promises about the production of remote sensing satellites with high accuracy.”

“Today, I proudly announce that ISA has taken a very important step in the area of designing and producing indigenous remote sensing satellites with very good accuracy,” Salarieh explained.

He mentioned “Pars-2” and “Pars-3” as examples of satellites whose manufacturing has officially started.

Salarieh recognized Pars-2 and Pars-3 as satellites with imaging accuracies of four and two meters, respectively.

Iran is one of the top 10 nations in the world for satellite manufacture and launch capabilities.