On Thursday, Russia’s state-owned Roscosmos Corporation launched an Iranian photographic satellite from its Vostochny Cosmodrome using a Soyuz rocket. The deployment comes amid an increasing partnership between the two countries.
State media in Iran described the Pars-1 as a 134 kg polar-orbital system that will generate images for agricultural, environmental, and scientific purposes. Iran’s Telecommunications Minister, Issa Zarepour, portrayed the project as “fully domestically developed.”
The surveillance equipment is expected to send high-resolution pictures from 500 km above the earth’s surface.
The TASS News Agency reported that the emplacement also included a payload consisting of a Russian weather satellite and 17 smaller orbiting devices.
Since Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, the two nations have attempted to improve bilateral cooperation to mitigate the numerous international sanctions that have been levied against their governments.
Tehran has sent ballistic missiles, attack drones, and battlefield munitions to assist Moscow’s military operations against Ukrainian forces. Russia has reciprocated with the transfer of military aircraft and advanced technical support.
In 2022, Russia assisted Iran with the launch of a remote-sensing Khayyam satellite from a facility in Kazakhstan.
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