The space station was opened in a ceremony in presence of Iranian Minister of Commutations and Information Technology Mahmoud Vaezi.The center has been built to observe and monitor images taken by locally-made satellites. It is of unique geographical position in terms of receiving data from satellites.
On February 1st, Iran unveiled two new home-made satellites named Nahid 1 (Venus 1) and Payam-e Amir Kabir as well as a space tug built for the first time in the country.
The three space crafts were unveiled in a ceremony participated by Iranian President Hassan Rouhani in Tehran on the occasion of the Space Technology Day in Iran.
Nahid 1 is a telecommunication satellite built in the Iranian Space Research Center.
Payam-e Amir Kabir has been designed and built in Amir Kabir University of Technology and is capable of taking images with a precision better than 40 meters.
Meantime, Saman 1 space tug which has been manufactured for the first time in the country is used to transfer the satellites from Low Earth orbit (LEO) to higher-energy orbits.
Director of the Iranian Space Agency (ISA) Mohsen Bahrami announced in July that the country's plans to send one or two satellites, among them Nahid 1 and Amir Kabir, into the orbit using home-made rockets by the end of the current Iranian year (March 20).
"Three satellites of Nahid 1, Amir Kabir and Dousti (Friendship) are ready for launch and we will surely send one or two satellites into the orbit by the yearend," Bahrami told reporters in a press conference in Tehran.
"The contract for the launch has been inked and sending Nahid 1 on the back of an indigenized satellite carrier is our priority," he added.
Also, in December, Head of Iran's National Space Center Manouchehr Manteqi announced that designing and construction of the country's new home-made satellite named Zafar (Triumph) will end by the next Iranian year.
"The two sensing satellites of Amir Kabir and the telecommunication satellite of Nahid 1 are in the final stages of testing and they will soon be ready to launch," Manteqi said.
Noting that the sensing Dousti (Friendship) satellite is in the final stages of construction at Sharif University of Technology, he said, "Also, designing and building Zafar satellite will be accomplished by the next year."
