News / Politics / Defense

Iran successfully places homegrown satellite Nour-2 in low Earth orbit

Tuesday, 08 March 2022 10:06 AM [ Last Update: Tuesday, 08 March 2022 10:16 AM ]

Iranian military satellite Nour-1 (Light-1) is launched onboard the Qased (Messenger) carrier from an undisclosed location in Dasht-e Kavir, central Iran, on April 22, 2020. (File photo by Fars News Agency)

Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Aerospace Force has launched its second homegrown satellite into a low Earth orbit (LEO), nearly two years after the launch of its first military satellite.

The IRGC successfully put Nour-2 (Light-2) into orbit on Tuesday morning. The homegrown satellite was launched with a three-stage satellite carrier, dubbed Qased (Messenger), from a launchpad in Dasht-e Kavir, a large desert in central Iran.

The satellite was launched at the velocity of 7.6 kilometers per second and was placed into an LEO orbit 500 kilometers above the earth’s surface some 480 seconds after the blast-off.

Iran receives signals from military satellite, vows new surprises

A senior IRGC commander says that the country is receiving signals from its recently launched satellite.

Nour-2 satellite is expected to carry out a range of military and civilian missions in Iran, including reconnaissance and natural disaster response operations.

Back on April 22, 2020, the IRGC successfully placed Nour-1 into an orbit 425 kilometers above the earth’s surface.

A day later, the commander of the IRGC Aerospace Force said several earth stations across Iran had received signals from the Nour-1 satellite, unveiling plans for the launch of another satellite into a higher orbit.

Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh said the Nour-1 satellite was circling the Earth once every 90 minutes.

The land stations in Tehran, Zahedan and Chabahar have received signals from the satellite, the commander noted.

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