Iran is planning to launch its heaviest ever satellite into low Earth orbit in late December, as part of efforts to expand the country’s operational space missions.
Local media reports published on Monday said the Iranian-made Paya satellite, also known as Tolou 3, will be launched from Russia’s Vostochny Cosmodrome on December 28.
According to the reports, the launch will mark Iran’s first operational use of a mini-satellite weighing about 150 kilograms, a class of spacecraft that would allow the country to expand the scope of its space missions.
They said the Paya satellite is designed to provide imaging with a resolution of about 10-20 meters per pixel and can be used for natural resource management, environmental monitoring, agriculture, and data-driven scientific and practical applications.
The head of the aerospace division of Iran Electronics Industries, a subsidiary of the Iranian Defense Ministry that designed and manufactured the satellite, told state television that the successful launch of the Paya mission could mark a turning point in Iran’s space activities.
Moharram Ghiasvand said the satellite will transmit images in far greater volumes, with a data-downlink rate up to ten times higher than that of Iran’s previous satellites.
Ghiasvand added that the satellite is equipped with two imaging sensors capable of capturing black-and-white and color images. He said its spatial resolution is five meters, which can be enhanced to three meters using artificial intelligence algorithms, marking the first time Iran could achieve sub-five-meter resolution in low Earth orbit.
Reports also said the planned launch from Vostochny in late December will include two other Iranian satellites placed into low Earth orbit.
These include Zafar-2, which is intended for Earth-observation missions, and Kowsar 1.5, which will be used primarily for agriculture monitoring and related applications.
