Iran Unveils New Generation of Home-Made Satellites
News number: 881114148917:07 | 2010-02-03Science
http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.php?nn=8811141489

TEHRAN (FNA)- The remote areas across Iran will soon be connected to each
other and to the rest of the world once the country's new home-made
satellites are placed into the orbit.

Iran's aerospace organization unveiled a new generation of home-made
satellites on Wednesday. The first national satellite unveiled today is
named Mesbah, which means "Lantern". Mesbah is a communication satellite
transferring data on UHF band.

The satellite is equipped with a store and forward communications receiver
that can gather information from various parts of the planet and transmit it
back to the Earth. It is also equipped with a navigation system.

Mesbah has a lifespan of 3 years and weighs 70 kilograms, more than twice
the mass of Omid, which was placed into orbit on the back of two carrier
rockets last February. It can orbit a circuit 700+15 kilometers into the
orbit.

Iran also unveiled another newly developed and manufactured satellite called
Tolou (rise). The satellite will be placed into the orbit by a
newly-developed satellite carrier called Simorgh (Phoenix).

Tolou enjoys modern technologies, including imaging equipments, mechanism
status controlling systems as well as solar cells.

Omid (hope) was Iran's first research satellite that was designed for
gathering information and testing equipment. After orbiting for three
months, Omid successfully completed its mission without any problems. It
completed more than 700 orbits over seven weeks and reentered the earth's
atmosphere on April 25.