Iran to launch 6 satellites by March 2024

Iranian Deputy Defense Minister Amir Rastegari said Iran was preparing six satellites for launch by March 2024.

Rastegari, who is also the CEO of Iran Electronics Industries (IEI) of the defense ministry, made the remarks in an interview.

He said preparations were being made to launch an Iranian satellite constellation, expressing hope that IEI would be able to put into low Earth orbit two CubeSats and the homegrown Earth observation satellite Tolou-3 by March 2024.

With a weight of 150 kilograms, Tolou-3 is Iran's first miniature satellite. It is capable of taking black-and-white photos with a five-meter spatial resolution and colored photos with a 10-meter resolution, said Rastegari.

Rastegari noted that IEI had carried out good cooperation with the Iranian Space Agency and Russia, adding that IEI is negotiating with the Aerospace Industries Organization of Iran's Defense Ministry and Russia to accelerate the launch of Iranian satellites into space.

In August 2022, Iran successfully launched the Khayyam satellite into space from the Baikonur space station in Kazakhstan by Russia's Soyuz satellite carrier rocket.