Iran launches satellite into space

Iran has launched a domestically-built satellite into space with an aim to collect environmental information to boost the country's forecasting system.

However, technical problems that occurred during the final stage of the launch prevented the spacecraft from reaching orbit.

Minister of Information and Communications Technology Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi tweeted on Tuesday that the first and second stages of the space mission had been performed successfully, but that the Simorgh satellite carrier had failed to accelerate to orbital speed in the third stage.

“The Payam (Message) satellite was successfully launched this morning aboard the satellite carrier. But the satellite unfortunately failed to be placed in orbit in the final stage,” said the minister.

Azari Jahromi, however, stressed that Iran was preparing to launch another Low-Earth Orbit satellite, named Doosti (friendship).

“This time, with extra efforts, we are going to show the world that Doosti will be a success,” he added.

EA