Tehran: In a historic achievement, Iran announced on Sunday that it successfully launched three domestically developed satellites into space simultaneously. This marks the first time in Iran’s space history that three satellites were launched concurrently.
Launched to an elliptic orbit with a minimum altitude of 450 kilometers above the Earth’s surface, the three satellites include one communications and research satellite named Mahda, along with two nanosatellites, Keyhan-2 and Hatef-1. The indigenously-built launch vehicle, Simorgh (Phoenix), facilitated the launch from the central province of Semnan.
Mahda’s primary mission involves assessing Simorgh’s performance across various tasks and evaluating new designs and technologies in space. Meanwhile, the other two satellites, Keyhan-2 and Hatef-1, will focus on global positioning and communications technology.
Despite concerns raised by Western governments, including the US, over potential dual-use technology for ballistic missiles, Iran reiterated that its satellite and rocket launches serve civil or defense purposes exclusively. This achievement comes on the heels of Iran’s announcement on January 20 about the successful launch of the domestically developed 47-kilogram research and telecommunication satellite, Soraya, using the homegrown Qaem-100 three-stage solid-fuel launch vehicle.