Russia launches Soyuz rocket into space carrying Iranian satellite

Russia’s space agency Roscosmos said on Thursday (Feb 29) that it launched a Soyuz rocket into space carrying an Iranian research satellite.

The satellite would scan Iran’s topography from an orbit of 500 kilometres. According to a report by the news agency AFP, the launch of Pars-I with the Russian Soyuz-2.1b launcher was broadcast live by the state television in Iran.

The satellite was launched from Russia’s Vostochny launch base. The satellite weighs 134 kilogrammes and is equipped with three cameras. According to Iran’s Telecommunications Minister Issa Zareppur, the satellite was fully domestically developed (in Iran).

A dozen satellite launches

Telecommunications Minister Zareppur said that Iran has carried out a dozen satellite launches over the past two years. In January, Tehran said that it simultaneously launched three satellites into orbit, nearly a week after the launch of a research satellite by its Revolutionary Guards.

The West has warned against such launches, saying that the technology (used in satellites) can be used for ballistic missiles, AFP reported. Iran, meanwhile, has said that it is not seeking nuclear weapons and that the satellite and rocket launches are for civil or defence purposes only.

Thursday’s launch comes after Russia launched Iran’s remote-sensing Khayyam satellite into orbit from Kazakhstan in August 2022, stirring controversy that Moscow might use the satellite to boost its surveillance of military targets in its war in Ukraine.

‘Air leak from ISS’ Russian segment poses no danger’

In other space news, Roscosmos officials on Wednesday acknowledged a continuing air leak from the Russian segment of the International Space Station (ISS) but pointed out that it posed no danger to its crew.