MNA– The ceremony marking the 9th National Day of Space Technology was inaugurated by President Hassan Rouhani on Wednesday at Iran International Conference Center.


The ceremony took place in the presence of ICT Minister Mahmoud Vaezi, Vice-Presidency for Science and Technology Sorena Sattari, Defense Minister Hossein Dehghan, Minister of Science, Research and Technology Mohammad Farhadi and Presidential Chief of Staff Mohammad Nahavandian.

President Rouhani paid a visit to an exhibition displaying Iran’s space achievements obtained during his government. Nahid I Communications Satellite, remote sensing ‘Payam’ satellite built by Amirkabir University of Technology, and a student-built CubeSat were unveiled today in the presence of Rouhani.

Nahid I satellite is ready for launch. Iran’s ICT Minister Mahmoud Vaezi expressed hope on Jan. 28 that are 'Friendship' satellite would be put into orbit by March and Nahid I in the next year.

Last year, in addition to the Remote Sensing Laboratory of Iranian Space Agency and the Centre for Satellite Aggregation and Testing of Iran Space Research Center, President Rouhani unveiled the remote sensing ‘Friendship’ satellite which has not been launched yet.

February 2, 2009, was named the National Day of Space Technology when Iran launched its first domestically-made satellite ‘Omid’ into space and joined the list of countries with the capability of launching satellites. The launch was verified by NASA the following day as a success.