TEHRAN – Aerospace Industry Organization Director Mehdi Farahi announced on Sunday that Iran plans to send satellites into geostationary orbits after the end of the country’s Fifth Development Plan.    

 

Iran’s Fifth Five-Year Development Plan (2010-2015) is part of the 20-Year Outlook Plan (2005-2025), which is the country’s main blueprint for long-term sustainable growth.

 

A geostationary orbit is a circular orbit 35,786 kilometers above the Earth’s equator and following the direction of the Earth’s rotation. An object in such an orbit has an orbital period equal to the Earth’s rotational period, and thus appears motionless, at a fixed position in the sky, to ground observers. Communications satellites and weather satellites are often given geostationary orbits, so that the satellite antennas that communicate with them do not have to move to track them.

 

Farahi also said that the process of designing and manufacturing several satellite carrier rockets with a range of 1000 kilometers will be completed by the end of the Fifth Development Plan.  

 

Iran has already sent three satellites into space. On February 3, Iran successfully launched its third domestically manufactured satellite, named the Navid, into orbit. The Navid satellite was sent into space aboard the upgraded Safir satellite carrier rocket.