Iranian State television reported Monday that Iran had
conducted a launcher test using a rocket launcher which may be able to send the Islamic republic's first homemade research satellite into orbit by March next year.
No images of the launch were available, although footage of a rocket on a launch pad in desert terrain was broadcasted earlier. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
was shown giving the launch order: "By Allah… I approve the launch."
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"Our presence in space is essential. We need an active presence in space and we thank Allah for witnessing the first determined step of manufacturing and launching a satellite… any country who wishes to be respectable must master the latest technological advances," added Ahmadinejad.
Iran's future satellite – Omid (Persian for "hope") – is officially a research satellite, but Iran may choose to put it to different use, such as espionage and satellite photography.
Omid was reportedly made by Iranian scientists and rocket specialists and will be launched into close-space. The Iranian space program was largely aided by other countries, as Iran itself struggles to enter the realm of satellite-launching nations.
The ability to launch satellites into orbit could indicate an advance in Iran's missile technology that might alarm some Western powers wary of Tehran's nuclear ambitions.
Reuters contributed to this report
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