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Satnews Daily
April 30th, 2009

Iranian "Hope" Satellite Falls Back To Earth


Iranian Omid satellite Iran has stated their first domestically-made telecommunications satellite Omid has, allegedly, successfully concluded its mission and re-entered the atmosphere.

Iran carried out its first orbital launching in February, placing the country among a small group of countries capable of producing satellites and sending them into space using domestic launchers. When Iran launched the Omid satellite on February 3, it announced plans for a 90-day space mission to test satellite-based orbicular guidance systems as well as remote sensing, satellite telemetry, and geographic information system technology. Omid, which means "Hope" in Persian, was designed to circle the Earth 15 times every 24 hours and to transmit data to an Iranian space station via two frequency bands and eight antennas. According to Fars News Agency, Omid has successfully accomplished all its missions. Iranian scientists have tracked the satellite plunging back to the Earth's atmosphere above South America and the Pacific Ocean.