Iran to launch 3 new satellites: Report

Tehran, Jan 13: Iran is preparing to send into orbit three new home-made satellites, Executive Affairs Vice President Mohammad Shariatmadari was quoted as saying by a Iran daily on Sunday.

"Tadbir, Sharif Sat and Fajr satellites are all in the final stages and ready for launching," Xinhua reported citing Shariatmadari.

He declined to specify dates for the launch, saying that the blast-offs will take place once technical tests are concluded.

In December, a senior official of the Iran Space Agency (ISA) said Tehran would send Tadbir and Sharif Sat into orbit by the end of the current Iranian year (March 20, 2014).

The country will soon launch another domestically-built satellite carrier Kavoshgar-7 (Explorer-7) into space.

Iran sent a second live monkey "Fargam" by the rocket "Research" into space Dec 14. In January, Iran had sent a capsule containing a monkey onboard Pishgam (Pioneer) I into space.