Iran said on Sunday it will showcase what it called a new range of rockets and satellites during annual celebrations marking the 32nd anniversary of the Islamic revolution.| Conveniently timed so that we can remember which president 'lost Iran', and which one is about to 'lose Egypt'. |
Iran will mark on February 11 the 32nd anniversary of the 1979 Islamic revolution which toppled the US-backed shah. Every year Tehran uses the occasion to tout its scientific and technological achievments.
The Safir (Ambassador) 1-B rocket can carry a satellite weighing 50 kilogrammes (110 pounds) into an elliptical orbit of 300 to 450 kilometres (185 to 280 miles), the website said. Iran sent into space in February 2009 the Safir 2 rocket carrying its first home-built satellite, called Omid (Hope).
The state television report said the other Kavoshgar (Explorer) 4 rocket has a range of 120 kilometres.
In February 2010, Iran launched a capsule carrying live turtles, rats and
In December, Vahidi said Iran would launch a Fajr (Dawn) reconnaissance satellite in the next few months, along with a Rasad (Observation) 1 satellite that was initially to have been launched in August 2010.
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad meanwhile on Sunday opened a new space research and training centre, media reports said.