TEHRAN (Iran News) Iranian satellites Kowsar and Hodhod were sent into space as part of a payload carried by the Russian Soyuz launcher, which delivered 53 satellites to orbit.

This launch represents a significant advancement for Iran, highlighting the first satellite manufacturing and launching attempt from its private space sector.

The Kowsar satellite, weighing 30 kilograms, is a high-resolution sensing satellite designed for applications in agriculture, natural resource management, environmental monitoring, and disaster response.

With a resolution capability of 3.45 meters, Kowsar surpasses Iran’s goal of producing satellites with 10-meter ground sample distance (GSD) cameras by 2025.

Kowsar has a lifespan of 3.5 years in orbit, positioned at an altitude of 500 kilometers, and is capable of capturing six frames per second over a 15-kilometer range.

Its imaging is achieved using an RGB camera with 3.45-meter resolution and an NIR camera with 5.5-meter resolution, supported by a maximum platform weight of 35 kilograms.

The satellite’s orbital period is 5,677 seconds, with pointing and stability accuracies of 1 degree and 0.05 degrees per second, respectively.

Power is sustained by its 44 watt-hour production capacity, and it consumes 29 watt-hours to operate its payloads.

Meanwhile, Hodhod serves as a small communications satellite intended to create satellite-based communication networks and enhance Internet of Things (IoT) connectivity.

Targeted at regions with limited terrestrial communication access, Hodhod offers communication solutions in remote and inaccessible areas.

Built to the CubeSat standard, the satellite operates in a 500-kilometer orbit and supports precision agriculture, transportation, logistics, and environmental monitoring. Its primary mission focuses on expanding IoT capabilities.

According to a Palestinian Information Center, Israeli warplanes on Sunday evening fired at least one missile at an agricultural plot of land, causing a big explosion that rocked the eastern area of al-Zeitoun in Gaza.

Later, other aerial attacks were launched in the same area in Gaza.

A spokesperson for the Israeli army claimed the airstrikes were in response to rockets allegedly fired from the besieged enclave in southern parts of the occupied territories. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack.

The fresh attacks come as Hamas has called on other Palestinian groups in the occupied West Bank to join hands and start an armed struggle against the Israeli occupation.

Mahmoud al-Zahar, a co-founder of the Islamic resistance movement, Hamas, and a member of the group’s leadership in the Gaza Strip, said all Palestinian groups must follow the successful model implemented in the liberation of the Gaza Strip, namely armed struggle, in order to counter Tel Aviv’s expansionist policies in the West Bank.

Speaking to the Lebanese TV channel Al Mayadeen on Thursday, al-Zahar said the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) must stop implementing its Oslo Accords with the Israeli regime, and take up arms against the occupiers.

The rocket was launched at 1:34 p.m. local time (4:34 GMT), which was broadcast live by the country’s space agency, Sputnik reported.

The rocket is expected to bring IGS-Optical 6 satellite, manufactured by Mitsubishi Electric, into the orbit, as part of the national Information Gathering Satellite (IGS) program.

The satellite will be able to record the surface of the Earth in daylight.

Japan is spending about $500 million a year on the development and production of reconnaissance satellites, partly out of concern over North Korea’s missile tests.

China successfully launched on Tuesday the Chang Zheng-2 rocket carrying three Earth remote sensing satellites, which is the last country’s space launch in 2017, the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) said.

“CASC successfully completed its last space mission in 2017,” CASC said on its page in the WeChat social network, Sputnik reported.

The rocket was launched at 3:44 a.m. local time (19:44 on Monday GMT) from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center.

The Tuesday launch was the 260th mission of the Chang Zheng-class rockets. CASC plans for the next year have not been announced yet.

Several months ago, China’s State Administration of Science announced its plans to launch several significant satellites for space science by 2020. The launch plans reportedly included the Chinese-French Oceanography Satellite scheduled for 2018, an astronomy satellite for the research of dark energy and cosmic evolution, scheduled for 2021 and a Mars probe, which is to be launched in 2020.

Marking another milestone after the inaugural liftoff last year, the Soyuz rocket carrying a weather satellite and other equipment took off at 2:41pm local time (0541 GMT), as scheduled, AFP reported.

“All the initial stages of the rocket’s flight went according to plan,” the Russian space agency Roscosmos said in a statement.

National television broadcast live footage of the launch, showing the rocket taking off into a grey sky in the Amur region near the Chinese border.

Apart from the Meteor weather satellite, the rocket carried 18 payloads from institutions and companies in Canada, the United States, Japan, Germany, Sweden and Norway, the space agency said.

Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said Monday that such contracts would help Russia modernize its space industry.

“The launch of foreign devices with the help of Russian launch vehicles should strengthen our positions on the global market of space services and increase the volume of extra-budgetary funds and investments,” Medvedev told a meeting.

The first launch from Vostochny spaceport in far eastern Russia took place in April 2016, with President Vladimir Putin overseeing the take-off.

That launch was a major milestone for the country’s beleaguered space sector, with the new cosmodrome touted to mark a rebirth of an industry plagued by a string of embarrassments in recent years.

The third launch from Vostochny is scheduled for Dec. 22.

“The program of launches will continue next year – it will grow, increase,” Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin, who oversees space programs, told Medvedev on Monday.

The Kremlin’s goal is to ease Russia’s dependence on Baikonur in Kazakhstan, a Launchpad Moscow has been forced to rent since the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Russia is also home to the Plesetsk cosmodrome in the north, which is used for satellite launches and missile testing.

But Vostochny, like Baikonur, is closer to the equator, making launches cheaper and more energy-efficient.

The new cosmodrome currently has one Launchpad for the Soyuz, the only rocket currently being used for manned space flights.

Rogozin said he planned to chair a meeting at the Launchpad set to address a second construction phase that will see the country build a reinforced Launchpad for the new Angara rocket.

The launch of the Angara, which is being tested to replace the aging Proton workhorse rockets, is scheduled for 2021.

Construction on the new spaceport began in 2012 but has been marred by labor disputes, corruption scandals and delays.

The first satellite launch had been scheduled for late 2015, but setbacks forced authorities to review the timetable.

In October, Russia launched from Plesetsk a European satellite dedicated to monitoring the Earth’s atmosphere, the protective layer that shields the planet from the sun’s radiation.