Iran’s Nour-2, Nour-3 satellites meet in space over Indian Ocean

Iran’s homegrown satellites, Nour-2 (Light-2) and Nour-3 (Light-3), have crossed paths early Tuesday, reaching closest to each other in their orbits around the Earth.

The two domestically-manufactured satellites were launched in March and September 2023 by Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC)’s Aerospace Force.

On October 17, 2023, they came closest together in their respective orbits at an altitude of 450 km over the Indian Ocean.

The latest position of both Iranian satellites can be monitored online on iran-sat.com.

Nour-2 satellite was launched with a three-stage satellite carrier, dubbed Qased (Messenger), from a launch pad in Dasht-e Kavir, a large desert in central Iran.

The satellite was launched at the velocity of 7.6 kilometers per second and was placed into an orbit 500 kilometers above the Earth’s surface some 480 seconds after the blast-off.

Nour-2 satellite is expected to carry out a range of military and civilian missions, including reconnaissance and natural disaster response operations.

Nour-3 satellite was launched by satellite carrier Qased (Messenger) and was placed into an orbit 450 kilometers (280 miles) above the Earth’s surface.

Despite sanctions imposed by Western countries in recent years, Iran has managed to take giant strides in its civilian space program.

Iran is now among the world’s top 10 countries capable of developing and launching satellites.