Iran, 7 other countries to coop. on building 3 satellites

TEHRAN, Mar. 12 (MNA) – Iran and 7 member states of the Asia-Pacific Space Cooperation Organization (APSCO) are planning to jointly design and build a remote sensing satellite, said head of Iranian Space Agency for International Cooperation on Friday. Iran’s representative at APSCO, Abolghasem Naghash, told Mehr News on Friday that Iran, in addition to holding the presidency of the APSCO, is also pursuing cooperation on various projects with member states of the Asia-Pacific Space Cooperation Organization. He maintained that one such satellite projects is the construction of a type of student miniaturized satellite, saying “the general outlines of the project have been approved by APSCO, and the first round of negotiations over the details and financial issues will start on March 28 in China.” Naghash further added that the universities from China, Turkey, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Thailand, Mongolia, and Peru have stated their readiness to take part in the satellite project. “In the joint student satellite project, the participating teams intend to build two ‘CubeSats’ and a ‘Microsatellite’,” he said. According to him, Iran’s Amirkabir University of Technology, University of Science and Technology, as well as K.N. Toosi University of Technology have expressed their interest in participating in the project. The project timeline and its details will be determined in the meeting on March 28, he said. APSCO, headquartered in Beijing, China, is an inter-governmental organization establsished in 2005 and dedicated to promote and strengthen the development of collaborative space programs among its Member States including Iran, Bangladesh, China, Mongolia, Pakistan, Peru, Thailand, Indonesia and Turkey.