MNA – Iranian Defense Minister Brigadier General Amir Hatami hailed the efforts of scientists of Iran's Aerospace Industries Organization (AIO), who successfully launched a domestically-built 'Payam' satellite into space, with 'Simorgh' satellite carrier.

On the eve of the 40th anniversary of the glorious victory of the Islamic Revolution, Iran has launched a domestically-built satellite into space with an aim to collect environmental information to boost the country's forecasting system; however, technical problems that occurred during the final stage of the launch prevented the spacecraft from reaching orbit.

Iranian Defense Minister Brigadier General Amir Hatami congratulated the 40th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution and the defeat of the Arrogant front and the Dominant system against the greatness and resistance of the great nation of Iran.

He also felicitated the honorable and noble nation of Iran on the great national project of launching Payam satellite; "I appreciate the efforts of the scientists, researchers and specialists of the Ministry of Defense's Aerospace Industries Organization (AIO), who successfully designed, built and launched satellite carriers of Safir 1 family, including Omid, Rasad, Navid and Fajr, which put the name of Iran into the list of countries that enjoy the capability of launching sattelite into the orbit; according to the Islamic Republic of Iran's space strategy and the roadmap for developing satellite carriers, AIO put it on the agenda to design and build bigger satellite carriers and Simorgh project was developed as the first step in this regard, with the aim of launching satellites weighing 250 kilograms to orbit at 500 kilometers altitude."

The defense minister describing the features of Simorgh satellite carrier, said the propulsion system of Simorgh had been powered by four main engines in the first stage, each generating up to 29,000 kilograms-force (280 kN; 64,000 lbf) of thrust; its control system also uses four engines to control the flight on the first stage; its propulsion system had also been powered by two engines in the second stage."

Minister of Information and Communications Technology Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi tweeted on Tuesday that the first and second stages of the space mission had been performed successfully, but that the Simorgh satellite carrier had failed to accelerate to orbital speed in the third stage.

“The Payam (Message) satellite was successfully launched this morning aboard the satellite carrier. But the satellite unfortunately failed to be placed in orbit in the final stage,” said the minister.