Indigenization Of Aerospace Technology Fully Operational: Minister

Tehran, Feb 2, IRNA – Iran fully Indigenized aerospace cycle’s technology by sending living creatures into space aboard an home-made bio-capsule, Defense Minister Brigadier General Ahmad Vahidi said on Friday. He made the remarks in a message released on the occasion of National Day of Space Technology which is slated for Saturday. ˈLaunching of Omid, Rasad, Navid Satelies into orbit and the launch of Explorer-1, Explorer-2, Explorer-3 as well as Pishgam rocket are examples of Tehran achievements in aerospace technology,ˈ Vahidi said. Iran has passed the difficult parts of his way toward becoming the pivot of aerospace technology in the region by 2025 (1404 in the Iranian calendar). Iran announced on Monday that it has sent a monkey into the space aboard Pishgam (Pioneer) explorer rocket and that it has brought back and recovered the living cargo. Iranian Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi had said his ministryˈs Aerospace Industries Organization sent the living creature into space aboard an indigenous bio-capsule as a prelude to sending humans into space. The Aerospace Industries Organization said the capsule was sent to an orbit beyond 120km in altitude and carried out telemetry of the environmental data records. In mid-March 2011, Iranˈs Space Agency (ISA) announced the launch of the Kavoshgar-4 (Explorer-4) rocket carrying a test capsule designed to house the monkey. The capsule had been unveiled in February 2011 by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, along with four new prototypes of home-built satellites. At the time, Director of Iran Space Agency (ISA) Hamid Fazeli called the launch of a large animal into space as the first step towards sending a man into space, which Tehran says is scheduled for 2025. Iran has already sent small animals into space, a rat, turtles and worms, aboard a capsule carried by its Kavoshgar-3 (Explorer-3) rocket in 2010. The Islamic republic, which first put a satellite into orbit in 2009, has outlined an ambitious space program and has, thus far, made giant progress in the field despite western sanctions and pressures against its advancement. Iran has taken wide strides in aerospace. The country sent the first biocapsule of living creatures into space in February 2011, using its home-made Kavoshgar-3 (Explorer-3) carrier. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announced in 2010 that Iran plans to send astronauts into space in 2025. But, later he said that the issue had gone under a second study at a cabinet meeting and that the cabinet had decided to implement the plan in 2019, five years earlier than the date envisaged in the original plan. Omid (hope) was Iranˈs first research satellite that was designed for gathering information and testing equipment. After orbiting for three months, Omid successfully completed its mission without any problem. It completed more than 700 orbits over seven weeks and reentered the Earthˈs atmosphere on April 25, 2009. After launching Omid, Tehran unveiled three new satellites called Tolou, Mesbah II and Navid, respectively. Iran has also unveiled its latest achievements in designing and producing satellite carriers. A new generation of home-made satellites and a new satellite carrier called Simorgh (Phoenix) were among the latest achievements unveiled by Iranˈs aerospace industries. The milk-bottle shaped rocket is equipped to carry a 60-kilogram (132-pound) satellite 500 kilometers (310 miles) into orbit. The 27-meter (90 foot) tall multi-stage rocket weighs 85 tons and its liquid fuel propulsion system has a thrust of up to 143 tons. Iran is one of the 24 founding members of the United Nationsˈ Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (UNCOPUOS), which was set up in 1959./end