Iran Claims It Places Another Imaging Satellite Into Orbit

Iran announced the successful placement of its Nour 3 satellite into orbit, positioned in an orbit approximately 450 kilometers above the Earth's surface.

The state-run news agency made the announcement about the imaging satellite on Wednesday. The announcement comes amidst escalating tensions between Iran and Western nations. Notably, Western officials have yet to acknowledge either the satellite launch or its successful orbital placement.

Iran has a history of promptly announcing launches that reach space on its state-run television channels, but it often refrains from acknowledging failed attempts.

The United States has previously accused Iran of violating a UN Security Council resolution by conducting satellite launches.

Nour belongs to a class of Iranian military Earth-imaging CubeSats. To date, two Nour satellites have been launched from Iran's Shahrud Desert, using three-stage Qased space-launch vehicles.

The first of these, Noor-1, was launched on April 22, 2020, and operated in a 425-kilometer orbit before decaying on April 13, 2022, marking a one-year lifespan. Nour-2, the second and currently operational, was launched on March 8, 2022, reaching a 500-kilometer orbit and providing the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps with low-resolution overhead imagery.

Iran has launched several short-lived satellites into orbit over the past decade and, in 2013, sent a monkey into space. However, there have been five consecutive failed launches in the Simorgh program, which involves satellite-carrying rockets. A separate incident, a fire at the Imam Khomeini Spaceport in February 2019, resulted in the deaths of three researchers, as reported at the time.

In the previous year, Iran experienced another unsuccessful launch of a satellite-carrying rocket while attempting to revive a program that had drawn criticism from Western nations.