TEHRAN – Iran’s space program took a significant leap forward on Sunday as it successfully placed three domestically built satellites into orbit in a single launch, carrying out one of the country's most complex space endeavors to date. The mission has been hailed as a major milestone by analysts and officials. 

The satellites—named Paya, Zafar-2, and an upgraded Kowsar model—soared into space atop a Russian Soyuz rocket from the Vostochny Cosmodrome. They are now circling Earth at an altitude of roughly 500 kilometers and each carry their own specialized mission.

The crown jewel of the trio is the Paya satellite. At 150 kilograms, it is now the heaviest spacecraft ever constructed by Iran. Paya carries an imaging camera capable of capturing detailed pictures of the Earth’s surface. Alongside it, the Zafar-2 satellite, developed by a team of university researchers, and the high-resolution Kowsar 1.5 satellite, built by a private Iranian company, round out the payload.

The satellites are designed for civilian use and some of their tasks will include monitoring the country's water resources, tracking environmental changes, managing agricultural land, and aiding disaster response during events like floods and earthquakes.

With its three new "eyes in the sky," Iran aims to build a more robust satellite network. The goal, according to space agency planners, is to be able to monitor any point in the country more frequently, providing data to guide future policy and development.

The successful launch was celebrated at a live-broadcast event in Tehran, where ordinary citizens could apply through the Iranian Space Agency (ISA) social media account to be part of the ceremony. Senior government officials were also present, some of whom stated the achievement was far more than a technical feat; it was, in fact, a crucial step toward self-reliance. Iran’s Minister of Information and Communications Technology emphasized that projects like the ones executed on Sunday were vital for "national management," from connecting remote villages to the internet to combating pollution.

Hassan Salariyeh, the head of ISA, was the next senior official to address the crowd. Some of his remarks pointed to the Iran-Russia collaboration behind the mission, as well as the “maturity” of the country’s space program. 

“This success demonstrates the maturity of our knowledge-based ecosystem, as both private sector companies and academic institutions were involved in the projects. For Iran's leadership, the launch serves as a symbol of domestic innovation and technological progress in the face of international sanctions,” he explained.