Iranian satellite to be launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome on Aug 9 - Roscosmos

MOSCOW. Aug 3 (Interfax) - An Iranian Earth remote sensing satellite will be launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on Tuesday, August 9, the Russia State Space Corporation Roscosmos said.

"The Soyuz-2.1b launch vehicle equipped with a Fregat upper stage is scheduled to take off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome to place the Qaem Earth remote sensing satellite into orbit for the Islamic Republic of Iran," Roscosmos said.

"Along with it, the Russian CubeSX-HSE-2, "Monitor-1", UTMN, CYCLOPS, Siren, "KAI-1", "Kuzbas-300", Skoltech-B1, Skoltech-B2, Polytech Universe-1, Polytech Universe-2, Vizard, "Geoscan-Edelweiss", MIET-AIS, ISOI, and ReshUCube small satellites will also be put into orbit," the corporation said.

The Iranian satellite has been developed and built by Roscosmos enterprises, it said.

The Washington Post said in June 2021 that the United States and some countries of the Middle East are concerned that an advanced satellite system that Russia was supplying to Iran could greatly advance Tehran's surveillance in the region and beyond. Sources said that under the agreement, Russia would provide the Iranians with a Russian-made Kanopus-V satellite equipped with a high-resolution camera. The launch could happen within months, they said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin later dismissed these claims as "nonsense."