Sina- 1 is the first Iranian artificial satellite launched on October 28th, 2005 from the plesetsk launch pad in northern Russia. The satellite was launched from a Russian cosmos 3M rocket as a joint project between Iran and Russia. The launch makes Iran the 43rd country to possess its own satellites. The purpose of Sina- 1 is to take pictures of Iran and monitor natural disasters in the earthquake- prone nation. With a three year life-time, it has high resolution precision is about 50 meters (yards). It orbits the earth for some 14 times a day from an altitude around 1000 km and with proper controllers, it can point their cameras as they wish. Sina- 1 weighs 170 kilogram (375- pound) was built by the Russian company, polyot. It has a telecommunication system and cameras that would be used for monitoring Iran’s agriculture and natural resources. It could also be deployed after disasters such as earthquakes. Sina- 1 shared the ride with other satellites from china, Russia, and Europe.
Apr 06 2010