Article Posted on : - Sep 26, 2008

DUBAI (BNS): Iran would launch its satellite using indigenously made rocket, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has said.

“We will soon launch a rocket that has 16 engines, which will put into orbit a 700 kg satellite,” Ahmadinejad was quoted by his officials as telling the Iranian diaspora in the United States. The Iranian president is in the US to attend the UN general assembly.

Iran has launched its satellite in the past on a Russian rocket in 2005 and recently collaborated with China and Thailand to develop a research satellite, which was launched into space by China.

Iranian president said the indigenously developed rocket will have 16 engines, and would take the satellite to over 430 miles into space. The reports also hinted that the satellite would be for commercial purposes, for communication or meteorological activities.

Iran’s domestic space programme has caused serious concerns in the western world, because the same rocket can be easily converted into a ballistic missile for delivering nuclear weapons.