Iran to construct launch base for bigger satellites

Iranian Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi has said that Iran will construct a new launch base to send bigger satellites into orbit, the local satellite Press TV reported Friday. Vahidi said Thursday that the base will be used to launch 1-ton satellites into an orbit of 1,000 kilometers high, according to the report. Iran is planning to launch satellites into orbits of up to 36, 000 kilometers high next year, he was quoted as saying. Iran announced last week that it "successfully" launched an observation satellite into orbit. The spacecraft, named Navid (Herald), weighing 50 kilograms, can take pictures in low attitudes of about 250 km to 375 km from the earth. Iran, a founding member of the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space, launched its first domestically-made data-processing satellite, the Omid (Hope), into space in 2009.