Iranian 'Mesbah' satellite ready

LONDON, January 23 (IranMania) - A senior aerospace industry official said that Mesbah satellite has been completed and will be launched into space within the next three months.

Ahmad Taleb-Zadeh, who heads Iran?s Aerospace Organization, told ILNA that Mesbah has to be placed into orbit, together with some other satellites, by a Russian rocket.

?The Russian rocket will have to wait for its other payloads before being launched,? he said, adding that the process is expected to take three months at most.

He said Mesbah satellite is designed for research purposes, stressing that the organization must not be blamed for the delay in the construction and launch of the satellite.

Mesbah will be the second Iranian satellite to be launched in less than six months, which means Iran has effectively joined the international satellite club.

Iran launched its first satellite, Sina-1, into space in October 2005.

Taleb-Zadeh said earlier that Iran is planning to launch five new satellites during the Fourth Five-Year Plan (2005-2010).

Sina-1 is the first Iranian satellite built jointly with Russia. It was launched from Polstesk space base in Murmansk province in northwestern Russia.
The satellite is used mainly for telecommunication purposes and taking photographs of the earth.