Iran Space Research Center is establishing a satellite launch base in the southern port city of Chabahar in Sistan-Baluchestan Province.
The first phase of the project pertains to the completion of the base’s design by the center’s scientists, said the head of the center.
Speaking at a ceremony where he was inducted as the head of the center, Hassan Haddadpour added that the infrastructures and laboratory networks will be developed subsequently, Mehr News Agency reported.
Elaborating on the center’s plans included in Iran’s sixth five-year economic development plan (2016-21), Haddadpour noted that the center’s roadmap stipulates that the equipment needed for the space industry will be designed, manufactured and delivered as per the policies set forth by Iran’s Space Agency for the post-sanctions era in Iran.
Iran and the six world powers (China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States, plus Germany) reached an agreement in July 2015 to ease the international sanctions in return for time-bound curbs on Tehran’s nuclear energy program.
Several organizations have been restructuring their plans in line with the new prospects that are predicted to boost Iran’s economy.
Haddadpour further said the development of a remote-sensing satellite is another major project of the center.
“By the end of the next economic development plan, three phases of the satellite’s development will be completed. And the project will be fully completed by 2027,” he said.
Addressing the same ceremony, Mohsen Bahrami, the head of Iran’s Space Agency, noted that the creation of a national laboratory network in the realm of space will help advance science while integrating the knowhow in the field.
This includes conceptual design and accelerating the completion of space projects.
Bahrami also said indigenization of space technologies is one of the main priorities of the space center.
“The mere launch of satellites is insufficient,” he said, “as the infrastructure must also be prepared to make use of these technologies in the areas of telecommunications, remote-sensing and space navigation. This highlights the need to cooperate with knowledge-based firms.”
