Russia launched Pars 1, an Iranian imaging satellite, into space on Thursday, capable of sending high-resolution photographs of surface areas from its 500 km orbit above Earth, according to Russian state media.

In addition, the rocket carried a Russian meteorological satellite and 17 Russian minor satellites. According to TASS news agency, a 134 kilogramme Soyuz carrier rocket launched from the Vostochny spaceport at 8:43 a.m. Moscow time.

The Fregate booster carrying the Meteor-M No. 2-4 weather satellite and 18 smaller satellites detached from the third stage of the Soyuz-2.1b launch vehicle, according to a Roscosmos broadcast.

The indigenous Iranian satellite, known as Pars 1, was launched into orbit 700 kilometres above the earth’s surface today, according to Iran’s state media, IRNA.

According to IRNA, this is the 12th satellite launch under President Ebrahim Raisi’s government.

Issa Zarepour, Iranian Minister of Information and Communications Technology, stated on Wednesday that the launch of Russia’s Pars 1 satellite was “in line with the development of space and international interactions with various countries.”

The Pars 1 has a 15-meter camera that allows it to relay high-resolution photographs of surface locations from its 500-kilometer orbit above the Earth.The satellite marks the first usage of the X-band link, a key milestone that will improve data transfer speeds from satellite to Earth for future missions.

“Applied imaging, the expansion of the domestic market for measurement data, and the development and testing of the basic technologies of measurement satellites and the relevant terrestrial parts are the goals for which the indigenous satellite has been developed,” the Iranian News Agency (IRNA) stated.

In January, Iran announced the launch of its Sorayya satellite. According to the state-run IRNA, the Soraya satellite was launched into orbit about 750 kilometres (460 miles) above the Earth’s surface using a three-stage Qaem 100 rocket.

In August 2022, Russia launched Iran’s remote sensing Khayyam satellite into orbit from Kazakhstan.

Meanwhile, Russia’s Meteor-M No. 2-4 satellite (also known as Meteor-M2-4) is the sixth spacecraft in the Meteor-M series, which was launched in 2009. It is intended to explore Earth’s natural resources, monitor global weather and the ozone layer, measure ocean surface temperature and ice conditions, monitor the helio-geophysical situation in near-Earth space, and receive data from automatic data collection measurement platforms.

A spokeswoman for the Russian private company Sputniks informed TASS that Soyuz was also carrying 17 of the company’s satellites to orbit.