TEHRAN – The commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC)’s Aerospace Division said Thursday Iran has mastered the technology of satellite carriers and has tested its first carrier rocket using solid fuel.
“From now on, Iran will be able to launch a great number of satellites using low-cost engines,” Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh told a gathering of religious scholars in the holy city of Qom.
He touched on a recent test on an Iranian satellite carrier engine operating on solid fuel, saying it was successfully carried out for the first time in the country.
“All Iranian satellite carriers tested over the past two years operated on liquid fuel. But in this test, we succeeded to use a solid fuel engine with a 66-tonne thrust,” the commander added.
Hajizadeh said Iran’s new satellite carriers are made of non-metal and composite fuselage, which increases the rocket’s energy and leads to considerable saving in relevant costs.
Composites also make a rocket lighter so it can boost a heavier satellite or payload into orbit.
In December 2020, Iran’s Defense Ministry announced its first successful launch of a domestically-built satellite carrier rocket named Simorgh (Phoenix), sending three research devices into space.
Last month, Iran said it launched a rocket with a satellite carrier bearing three devices into space.
The State Department at the time said it remained concerned by Iran’s space launches, which it claimed “pose a significant proliferation concern” in regards to Tehran’s ballistic missile program.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh stressed that scientific and research progress, including in the field of aerospace, is Iran’s inalienable right.