Alwaght- Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) has launched its second satellite into space on Tuesday, nearly two years after the launch of its first military satellite.
The homegrown satellite, dubbed as Nour-2 (Light-2), was launched a low earth orbit (LEO)with a three-stage satellite carrier, dubbed Qased (Messenger), from a launchpad in Dasht-e Kavir, a large desert in central Iran.
The satellite was launched at the velocity of 7.6 kilometers per second and was placed into an LEO orbit 500 kilometers above the earth’s surface some 480 seconds after the blast-off.
Nour-2 satellite is expected to carry out a range of military and civilian missions in Iran, including reconnaissance and natural disaster response operations.
Back on April 22, 2020, the IRGC successfully placed Nour-1 into an orbit 425 kilometers above the earth’s surface.
A day later, the commander of the IRGC Aerospace Force said several earth stations across Iran had received signals from the Nour-1 satellite, unveiling plans for the launch of another satellite into a higher orbit.
Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh said the Nour-1 satellite was circling the Earth once every 90 minutes.
The land stations in Tehran, Zahedan and Chabahar have received signals from the satellite, the commander noted.
