Alborz to Host Optical Space Telescope

A project to develop a new space telescope in Iran’s Alborz Province has been made public and the center hosting it is likely to be opened before 2017. The center would be the first of its kind in the region in the past decade and aims to make Iran a center of ground-based space exploration. The telescope, which will optically trace astronomical objects, is part of a larger cooperation between Asia-Pacific Space Cooperation Organization and Iran’s Space Agency, Mehr News Agency reported on October 30. Under this project, three optical telescopes will be set up in Iran, Pakistan and Peru. The data collected from these three points will be shared between the centers. The project will be officially unveiled by the Bureau of Space Services affiliated to ISA.