TEHRAN: Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has successfully put a second military satellite, the Noor 2, into orbit, the state-media said on Tuesday. The announcement came as talks held in Vienna to revive an agreement restraining Iran’s nuclear programme have reached a critical stage.
Noor 2 is orbiting at an altitude of 500 kilometres. The first military satellite, launched by the Islamic Republic in April 2020, placed the Noor, or “light” in Persian, at an orbit of 425km above the earth’s surface. Putting a second satellite in space would be a major advance for Iran’s military, raising concerns about the country’s nuclear and missile programmes.
Iran will send a series of military satellites into orbit over the coming years, Space Commander of the Revolutionary Guards’ Aerospace Force Ali Jafarabadi said on Tuesday, the semi-official Fars news agency reported.
“We will launch a series of Noor satellites in the coming years. The space program of the country, of which we are a part, is to stabilise various scientific, research and defence satellites in low-earth orbit and then reach orbit of 36,000 kilometers above land,” Jafarabadi said.
The US military says the same long-range ballistic technology used to put satellites into orbit could also allow Tehran to launch longer-range weapons, possibly including nuclear warheads.
Tehran denies US assertions that such activity is a cover for ballistic missile development and says it has never pursued the development of nuclear weapons.
“The IRGC successfully placed Iran’s second military satellite, Noor 2, into orbit 500 kilometres from earth,” the semi-official Tasnim news agency said.
The three-stage Qased, or “Messenger”, carrier launched the Noor 2, from the Shahroud space port, it added. The same type of rockets, which use a combination of liquid and solid fuels, carried the first military satellite.
In December, Iran’s space launch failed to put its three payloads into orbit after the rocket was unable to reach the required speed, a defence ministry spokesman said. The attempted launch drew criticism from the United States, Germany and France.
Iran, which has one of the biggest missile programmes in the Middle East, has suffered several failed satellite launches in recent years due to technical issues. – Reuters