Sina Remote Sensing Satellite

The first Iranian satellite, Sina-1, was launched by a Russian Kosmos-3M rocket from Plesetsk in the Murmansk Province of the Russian Federation on October 27, 2005. The launch of Sina-1 made Iran the 43rd member of the world satellite owner club. The satellite has dimensions of 80×130×160cm, weighs 160kg. It was inserted into a Sunsynchronous near-polar orbit at an altitude of 700km and has a period of 98.64min. It images the surface from the Arctic to the Antarctic. In panchromatic mode it images a swath 50km wide with a resolution of 50m, and in multi-spectral scanning mode it images a swath 500km wide with a resolution of 250m. It is on a mission to study natural disasters, natural resources and agricultural trends. It operates on VHF and UHF frequencies. It has also provided Iran with valuable experience in ground control tracking and telemetry handling.