TEHRAN, Dec. 18 (Xinhua) -- Iran's minister of communication and information technology said on Sunday the country will launch at least two homegrown satellites into space by March 20, 2023, which is the end of the Iranian calendar year.
Making the remarks in an interview with official news agency IRNA, Issa Zarepour said that in addition to the two communication satellites Nahid 1 and Nahid 2, others are to be launched later.
The two satellites are both produced by the Iranian Space Research Center, with Nahid 1 unveiled in late January 2017.
Nahid 2 is an improved version of the series, designed to be put into an orbit 500 km above the Earth. With a two-year lifespan, it has a three-axis control system and a propulsion system for orbital maneuvers.
The minister's announcement came after Iran and Russia on Wednesday signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to expand space industry cooperation.
Iran also succeeded in launching the Qaem 100 three-stage solid fuel suborbital satellite carrier in November, and the Khayyam satellite into space from the Baikonur space station in Kazakhstan by Russia's Soyuz satellite carrier rocket in August.
