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Iran unveils 4 new satellites

Updated: 2011-02-07 17:22

(Xinhua)

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TEHRAN -- Iran unveiled four domestically- manufactured satellites on Monday, two years after it launched the first self-developed satellite into orbit, the local satellite Press TV reported.

Four national satellites, Fajr (Dawn), Rasad (Observation), Zafar (Victory) and Amirkabir I,  and a satellite carrier Kavoshgar 4 (Explorer 4) were unveiled on Monday by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the report said.

The satellites would be put in orbit in the near future, Ahmadinejad was quoted as saying.

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Fajr is the first sensing satellite of the country, manufactured by Iran's defense ministry, with the ability to change from the elliptical orbit of 300-450 kilometers to a circular orbit of 450 kilometers which increases the life expectancy of the satellite by one year and a half, according to the report.

Also, Rasad is the country's first satellite for photography and carries remote measuring equipment and the images taken by it would be used in meteorology and identifying sea borders.

On Sunday, Iranian Defense Minister Brigadier General Ahmad Vahidi unveiled two domestically-manufactured fixed ground stations and one mobile station for receiving remote sensing images, Press TV said.

The Iranian minister said the Geographical Department of Iran's Defense Ministry will use the stations to receive and process images with an accuracy of one meter and provide them to users across the country.

He noted that each station would be able to cover an area within a radius of 2,500 kilometers and to prepare images within an area estimating 10 million cubic meters every 24 days.

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