Iran’s state media said on Thursday that Russia had launched an Iranian research satellite into orbit that will survey the country’s geography from a distance of 500 kilometers (310 miles).
Launched from the Vostochny Cosmodrome by a Russian Soyuz rocket, the remote Pars 1 research-sensing satellite weighs 134 kg (295 pounds) and has three cameras.
The cosmodrome, which opened for business in 2016, is located in the Russian Far East’s Amur region, close to the country’s border with China and roughly 1,500 kilometers (930 miles) from Vladivostok’s port.
“Our current domestic launch bases do not yet have the ability of injecting satellites at the right inclination for a sun-synchronous orbit, hence our use of a Russian launch base,” Iran’s Information and Communications Minister Issa Zarepour told state TV.
Russia sent Iran’s remote Khayyam sensing satellite into orbit in 2022 from Kazakhstan’s Baikonur Cosmodrome, reflecting deeper scientific cooperation between the two U.S.-sanctioned countries.
