According to many Iranian media reports, on February 1 local time, Iran successfully test-fired a new domestic satellite launch vehicle “Zoljenah”.
It is understood that the satellite launch vehicle is the latest research result of Iran’s aerospace.
It uses solid fuel and can put a man-made satellite weighing about 220 kilograms into an orbit 500 kilometers away from the earth.
As early as April 2020, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps successfully launched the country’s first military satellite “Nur I”, achieving a leap forward in the strategic intelligence capabilities of the Revolutionary Guard Corps.
At the same time, due to the similarity between launch vehicles and ballistic missile technology, the United States and other Western countries have repeatedly condemned Iran’s use of “ballistic missile technology”, and Iran has said that its behavior is not in violation of international resolutions.
Iran’s Ministry of Defense and the Logistics Bureau of the Armed Forces said on February 1 that Iran has completed the test launch of a satellite launch vehicle in low-Earth orbit.
According to Al Jazeera on the 1st, a spokesman for the Space Department of the Iranian Ministry of Defense said that “Zoljenah” is Iran’s first hybrid-powered satellite launch vehicle, which uses solid fuel engines to carry out test launch in low-Earth orbit.
The spokesman said that after the test launch, Zolina could put the operating satellite into orbit with a mobile launch pad. According to the report, “Zolina” uses solid fuel in the first two stages of launch and liquid fuel in the third stage. It is reported that Zolina can put a satellite weighing about 220 kilograms into an orbit 500 kilometers away from the earth.
Iran insists that satellite programs, like nuclear programs, can be used peacefully. But the United States and other Western countries suspect that the project may be used for missile development.
In April 2020, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps of Iran successfully launched the country’s first military satellite, “Nur I”, achieving a leap forward in the strategic intelligence capabilities of the Revolutionary Guard Corps.
At the same time, due to the similarity of launch vehicles to ballistic missile technology, the United States and other countries have repeatedly condemned Iran’s use of “ballistic missile technology”, and Iran said that its behavior did not violate international resolutions.
