Russia launches Iran's research satellite 'Pars 1' into space

Moscow [Russia], February 29 : Russia on Thursday launched into space Pars 1, an Iranian imaging satellite, which has the capability of sending high-resolution images of surface locations from its orbit 500 km above Earth, Russian state media reported.
The rocket also carried a Russian weather satellite and 17 Russian small satellites. TASS news agency, citing a broadcast by Russian Space Agency Roscosmos stated that a 134 kg-Soyuz carrier rocket blasted off from the Vostochny spaceport at 8:43 am Moscow time.
The Fregate booster carrying the Meteor-M No. 2-4 weather satellite and 18 smaller satellites separated from the third state of the Soyuz-2.1b launch vehicle, according to a Roscosmos broadcast.
The indigenous Iranian satellite, dubbed Pars 1, was placed into an orbit of 700 kilometres above the earth's surface today, Iran state media IRNA reported soon after the Russian rocket launch.
According to IRNA, it is the 12th satellite launch during President Ebrahim Raisi's administration.
Iranian Minister of Information and Communications Technology Issa Zarepour said on Wednesday that the launch of the Pars 1 satellite from Russia was "in line with the development of space and international interactions with various countries."
The Pars 1 carries a 15-meter camera, enabling it to send high-resolution images of surface locations from its orbit 500 km above the earth.The satellite marks the inaugural use of the X-band link, a significant achievement poised to enhance data transmission speeds from satellite to Earth for subsequent satellites.
"Applied imaging, the expansion of the domestic market for measurement data, and the development and testing of the basic technologies of measurement satellites and the relevant terrestrial parts are the goals for which the indigenous satellite has been developed," IRNA said.
This January, Iran had announced the launch of its Sorayya satellite. State-run IRNA reported that the Soraya satellite was placed in an orbit at some 750 kilometres (460 miles) above the Earth's surface with its three-stage Qaem 100 rocket.
In August 2022, Russia launched Iran's remote-sensing Khayyam satellite into orbit from Kazakhstan
Meanwhile, Russia's Meteor-M No. 2-4 satellite (also known as Meteor-M2-4) is the sixth spacecraft in the Meteor-M series introduced in 2009, and is designed to explore Earth's natural resources, watch global weather and the ozone layer, measure the ocean surface temperature and ice conditions, monitor the helio-geophysical situation in near-Earth space and receive information from automatic data collection measurement platforms.
A spokesperson for the Russian private company Sputniks told TASS that 17 satellites manufactured by the company were also being carried by Soyuz to be put into orbit.