Iran receives first signals from Mahda satellite: Minister

Tehran, IRNA – Tehran, IRNA – Iran's telecoms minister says that the country has received first signals from the Mahda satellite hours after it was successfully launched into orbit.

Issa Zarepour wrote on his social media account on Sunday that signals had been received from Mahda, one of three domestically-developed satellites successfully placed into orbit by the Simorgh satellite carrier earlier in the day.

Mahda, Keyhan-2, and Hatef-1 research satellites were placed between altitudes of 450 to 1,100 kilometers above the earth’s surface.

Mahda is a research satellite developed and tested at the Iranian Space Research Center. It weighs 32 kilograms and has been designed to test advanced satellite subsystems.

Mahda’s main mission is to examine the performance of the Simorgh satellite carrier in launching multiple space payloads in low earth altitudes and to evaluate new homegrown space technologies.