Iran is set to launch a satellite this year that will provide telecommunications services and Earth imaging for the Islamic republic.
The Mesbah spacecraft will be Iran's second satellite launch in about three months and will be sent into orbit from the Polstesk launch facility in northern Russia, Ahmad Taleb-Zadeh, head of Iran Aerospace Organization, said.
The Sina-1 telecom satellite was launched last October. Iran has plans to launch four more birds after Mesbah.
Taleb-Zadeh's statements were reported by the English-language IranMania Web site and cited Iran's Iranian Labour News Agency.
Mesbah has been considered ready since last summer; however, IranMania said its launch was delayed so that the Russians could add other satellites to the rocket's payload.
Copyright 2006 by United Press International
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