Iran and seven member states of the Asia-Pacific Space Cooperation Organization are planning to jointly design and build a remote sensing satellite, said the head of Iranian Space Agency for International Cooperation during the Iranian weekend (Thursday-Friday).
Iran’s representative at APSCO, Abolqasem Naqqash, told Mehr News Agency on Friday that Iran, in addition to holding the organization’s presidency, is also pursuing cooperation on various projects with APSCO’s member states.
He further said one such project is the construction of a miniaturized satellite, stating that the general outlines of the project have been approved by APSCO and the first round of negotiations over the details and financial issues will start on March 28 in China.
Naqqash noted that the universities from China, Turkey, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Thailand, Mongolia and Peru have stated their readiness to take part in the satellite project.
“In the joint student satellite project, the participating teams intend to build two ‘CubeSats’ and a ‘Microsatellite’,” he said.
According Naqqash, Iran’s Amirkabir University of Technology, University of Science and Technology, and Khaje Nasir Toosi University of Technology have expressed interest in participating in the project.
“The project timeline and its details will be determined in the meeting on March 28,” he said.
APSCO, headquartered in Beijing, is an inter-governmental organization established in 2005 and dedicated to promote and strengthen the development of collaborative space programs among its member states, including Iran, Bangladesh, China, Mongolia, Pakistan, Peru, Thailand, Indonesia and Turkey.
