Iran’s homegrown Khayyam Satellite launched into orbit from Baikonur cosmodrom

Named after Persian polymath Omar Khayyam (1048 – 1131), the satellite was put into orbit by a Russian Soyuz rocket from the Baikonur space station in Kazakhstan.

Improving productivity in the agriculture sector, surveying water resources, managing natural disasters, confronting deforestation, monitoring border areas and mining explorations are among the main objectives of the satellite which will have an imaging accuracy of one meter.

Communications and Information Technology Minister Issa Zarepour said cooperation with pioneering countries in the field of the space industry will be continued until indigenizing space technology.

Tehran and Moscow have signed documents to expand cooperation in the fields of communications and information technology. In July, Zarepour and Russian Digital Development, Communications, and Mass Media Minister Maksut Shadayev agreed to develop relations in digital services, communications, software, hardware, and telecommunications.

Meanwhile, the Iran-Russia Joint Technology Center was established in May at St. Petersburg Polytechnic University with the aim of implementing joint projects and developing bilateral technological cooperation.