Salariyeh made the comment in an interview with IRNA on Monday, two days after Iran placed the Sorayya (meaning Pleiades in Persian) research satellite into a space orbit of 750km above the Earth’s surface.
Minister of Communications and Information Technology Isa Zarepour said afterward that it was the first time that Iran put a satellite in the 750-km orbit above the Earth’s surface, hailing it as a new record set in the height of the country’s space launches.
Sorraya was launched into the space using Qaem 100 satellite carrier built by the Aerospace Unit of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC).
Now, the head of the Iranian Space Agency has said that the Sorayya satellite was launched to accomplish several missions including to verify the performance of Qaem 100 carrier, and to test the performance of locating the satellite using indigenous space GPS.
Testing the performance of telecommunication equipment in sending data on the situation of the satellite and receiving orders from the Earth, coupled with testing the satellite’s performance in the orbit at the time of separation are some of other missions defined for the satellite, Salariyeh added.
He also elaborated on the capabilities of Qaem 100 satellite carrier. He said it is equipped with an engine working on solid fuel, which enables the carrier to carry objects weighing above 50kg and destined for a 500-km orbit. Qaem 100 is capable of carrying objects weighing up to 100kg, he added.
The official said the engine of Qaem 100 promotes its flight sustainability and have a better control mechanism, adding that the carrier will be used for several more space launches in the coming months to further test its capabilities and performance.
Salariyeh also said that Iran is building another satellite carrier called Qaem 120, while it will test-launch another one named Simorgh (meaning phoenix) in the near future, which has been produced by the country's ministry of defense.
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