Iran’s first space monitoring center to be inaugurated soon

TEHRAN,Jan.22(MNA) – Iran’s first space monitoring center to be inaugurated during the Ten-Day Dawn celebrations, Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi announced on Monday. The Ten-Day Dawn, which will be celebrated from January 31 to February 10 across the country this year, commemorates the anniversary of the victory of Iran’s Islamic Revolution in 1979. Vahidi also said that it is more than likely that Iran will send several monkeys into space aboard the Pishgam (Pioneer) space capsule during the celebrations. Director of Iran Space Agency Hamid Fazeli said on January 15 that the Pishgam space capsule had undergone its final tests and was ready to be launched. He also said that the plan to send living creatures into space was part of the project to send human beings into space, adding that the project would be carried out over the course of five to eight years. As part of its space program, Iran also plans to put the domestically manufactured Sharifsat satellite into orbit by the end of the current Iranian calendar year, which concludes on March 20. A new domestically manufactured satellite, named the Nahid, is also scheduled to be unveiled on February 2, which is National Space Technology Day. Elsewhere in his remarks, the defense minister said that a new fighter jet, which has been designed and manufactured by Iranian experts, will also be unveiled during the celebrations. In addition, Vahidi said that the Defense Ministry plans to build new missile systems and a new space center for the launch of space vehicles.