Iran to Launch 3rd Military Satellite into Orbit in 2022

A new military satellite will be put into orbit by Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) this year.

Brigadier General Amir-Ali Hajizadeh, commander of the IRGC’s aerospace division, made the announcement on the sidelines of the 12th Malek Ashtar Festival in Tehran on Sunday.

The new satellite will be launched into space using the country’s Qa’em satellite carrier.

“By God’s will, we will launch the new satellite carrier Qa’em into space by the year-end,” Hajizadeh was quoted as saying by Iran’s state-owned PressTV.

The country launched its second satellite dubbed Noor (Light)-2 into orbit in March 2022; and Noor- 1 April 2020. Noor-1 is currently orbiting the earth at a 425 km-long distance.

The orbiter, tasked with carrying out reconnaissance missions, was launched on board the domestically-built satellite carrier Qassed (Messenger) from a launchpad based in the Dasht-e Kavir, Iran’s sprawling central desert. It was placed into orbit at an altitude of 500 km after 480 seconds at a speed of 6.7 km/s.