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Tehran, Feb. 10 (IANS): Iran has failed to put an indigenous satellite Zafar into Earth's orbit, state IRINN TV reported.
The homemade satellite carrier Simorgh could not reach the desired speed to put the satellite into the required orbit on Sunday, Ahmad Hosseini, Spokesman for space projects of Iran's Defence Ministry was quoted as saying by IRINN TV.
Hosseini said the satellite carrier put Zafar at 540 km of altitude, but the process could not be completed due to the lack of required speed by Simorgh, Xinhua reported, citing IRINN TV.
He said that the Iranian space experts will analyse and work on the data, correct the problems and prepare the satellite for re-launch.
The 90-km Zafar was a remote-sensing satellite equipped with colour cameras and had been designed for surveying oil reserves, mines, jungles and natural disasters.
In August 2019, an Iranian rocket exploded on its launch pad at Imam Khomeini Space Centre in northern Iran before its scheduled launch.
Iran sent its first bio-capsule containing living creatures into space in February 2010, using a Kavoshgar-3 (Explorer-3) carrier. Iran's first home-built satellite, Omid (Hope), was launched in 2009.