TEHRAN, 2011, July 09 -- Dr. Hamid Fazeli, head of Iran's Space Organization, in an interview with IRNA said the planned
Kavoshgar rocket is similar to the Safir rocket in terms of structure, which will launch a biocapsule with live monkey into a suborbital altitude of 120 kilometers. The Kavoshgar rocket will be launched during the month of Mordad (July 23 to August 23) with a 285-kilogramme capsule.
TEHRAN, 2011, Aug. 22 -- The Iranian Space Agency (ISA) said Iran plans to launch a domestically-built satellite carrier Kavoshgar into space by theend of summer.
Kavoshgar's cargo, with a weight of 300 kg, contains a biological capsule in which a rhesus monkey will be placed. The rocket will be orbiting at an altitude of 120 to 130 kilometers above the Earth’s surface.
TEHRAN, 2011, Oct. 03 -- Iran's plans to send a live monkey into space have been postponed indefinitely, the country's top space official said, quoted by the state television website. "One cannot give a set date for this project and as soon as our nation's scientists announce the readiness (of the project) it will be announced," said Hamid Fazeli, head of Iran's Space Organisation. He gave no reason for the postponement.
TEHRAN, 2012, January 04 -- Head of the Iranian Space Agency (ISA) says the country will launch a bio-capsule carrying a living creature into space within the next two months. Hamid Fazeli told reporters that the national project will be carried out by sending a monkey into space using a new bio-capsule.
According to Fazeli, ISA scientists are designing and manufacturing a new bio-capsule an example of which was launched into space last winter. Since it returned to Earth, we have been trying to upgrade it by “solving its problems and boosting its technical features,” he noted.
A issue of the Jane's Defense Weekly (2012, November 21) reports that Iran has tried a third orbital launch attempt of the year with a Safir rocket sometime between September 22 and October 25, but apparently the result was even worse than the last one: it exploded (?) on the launch pad.
Here we can see the preparations for the launch. But it is not a Safir launcher to see, probably is it a Kavoshgar
(Shahab-3) on TEL. Possibly should it be the launch of a liquid fuel Kavoshgar. It was announced already one year ago and then postponedindefinitely.
TEHRAN, 2013, Dec. 24 -- Director of Iran Aerospace Systems Research Center Mohammad Ebrahimi noted that the country has so far launched eight carriers into space and the last two had living creatures onboard.
He said more time will be needed to
develop a more complex carrier capable of carrying human beings.
Ebrahimi further stated that Iran intends to take slow but scientific and logical steps in the field of aerospace, adding that Iranian scientists plan to cross the threshold of bio-space research in their next stride. He added that planning and conceptual designing for the ninth Iranian-developed carrier is already underway.
Note:Resumption of the Shahab-3 project with a new suitablereturn capsule ?
Quote: "The next step is to send a Kavoshgar to a height of 175 km with a payload of 500 kg" (or more)
TEHRAN, 2014, May 04 -- The head of Iran’s Aerospace Research Institute has said the country will launch new generation of Kavoshgar rockets, jetting in a higher height comparing to the previous rockets.
Dr. Mohammad Ebrahimi told Mehr News that Iran’s Aerospace Research Institute has an orbital and suborbital project to send the living thing to the space; “first we will send the living thing to suborbital space and then with the advancement of the technology, it would be sent orbital space and beyond; our ultimate goal is sending the first man from Iran to the space,” he added.
Ebrahimi said that in current Iranian year the institute had plans to send the new generation of Kavoshgar to space and added that like the new Kavoshgar's, they are not cylindrical, but like world standard.
He held that to reach the capability to send a man to the space first we should send an object up to 150 to 200 km height suborbital space and then, “we should send this object to space to the orbit of 250 km around the earth, both plans need a carrier to provide the energy needed for the object’s movement.
TEHRAN, 2014, May 19 -- Iran announced plans to launch another Kavoshgar rocket into space in the near future.
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A one-ton Kavoshgar will be sent to orbit at an altitude of 150 to 200 kilometers from the earth this year," Head of Iran’s Aerospace Research Institute Mohammad Ebrahimi, who also supervises Iran's project for sending man into space, said in an interview with the state-run Islamic republic news agency.
He said that the geometrical specifications of the Kavoshgar to be used in this launch will be similar to the previous ones, but the new Kavoshgar is cylindrospheric in form, that is a mixture of cylinder and sphere.
Ebrahimi explained that the rocket enjoys recovery and backup systems which make its launch more reliable and safe. He said once this Kavoshgar is sent to the orbit, the third step to send astronauts into suborbital space will be taken.
TEHRAN, 2014, June 06 -- Mansour Kabganian, Chief Director of Iran's national project for building a spaceship, said that Iran is working on plans to build a spacecraft to send more living creatures into lower orbits in future.
The spacecraft's dimensions are 1.5 meters and it weighs 100kg (
meant is 1000kg). The spacecraft will be sent "to a low (
sub)orbit" with a Kavoshgar rocket.