Iran Set to Unveil Its First Radar Satellite This Year

The head of the Iranian Space Agency has announced that Iran is set to unveil its first-ever radar satellite later this year.

Hassan Salarieh told Fars News Agency that two main families of satellites are currently under development in Iran: remote sensing satellites and telecommunication satellites, The Caspian Post reports citing Iranian media.

In the communications sector, the Nahid satellite is under development, while in the remote sensing field, the Pars and Rad series are being pursued.

Salarieh noted that Pars-1 has already been launched, while the second version, Pars-2, was unveiled last year and is now being prepared for launch. The design of Pars-3, aimed at achieving imaging resolution of one meter or better, is also underway.

The project is being carried out under the leadership of the Iranian Space Research Center, in collaboration with the Ministry of Communications and a network of Iranian knowledge-based companies, he said

He added that the Rad satellite, a radar imaging satellite, is also under development. “Currently, two classes of radar satellites - Rad-1 and Rad-2 - are being designed,” Salarieh said. “Our goal is to unveil at least one of them before the end of this year.”