Fajr (Persian: فجر, meaning "dawn") is an Iranian satellite which was launched on 2 February 2015.[2] Fajr had a mass of 52 kg and was equipped with an optical imaging payload which would have reached a ground resolution of about 500 metres (1,600 ft).[3]
Satellite
It is the first Iranian satellite to use a cold-gas thruster system, to conduct orbital maneuvers and increase its service life by raising its orbit to prevent a fast decay. An experimental GPS system developed by Iran is also part of the spacecraft. The Fajr satellite is expected to operate for 1.5 years.[3] The satellite body is a 6-sided prism with a height of 49 centimetres (19 in) and a width of 35 centimetres (14 in).[1]
Fajr was launched by a Safir-1B rocket from the Iranian Space Agency's launch site in Semnan. The launch took place at around 08:50:00 UTC on 2 February 2015, Iran's national day of space and the sixth anniversary of the country's first successful orbital launch. The satellite was deployed into a low Earth orbit with a perigee of 224 km, an apogee of 470 km, an inclination of 55.53°, and an orbital period of 91.5 minutes. Fajr reentered in the Earth's atmosphere on 26 February 2015 after 23.8 days in orbit. Apparently, it performed no maneuvers during its orbital lifetime.[1]
References
^ abcKrebs, Gunter. "Fajr". Gunter's Space Page. Retrieved 27 February 2015.
^ ab"Fajr: Display 2015-006A". nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov. NASA. 27 February 2020. Retrieved 23 April 2020. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
Launches are separated by dots ( • ), payloads by commas ( , ), multiple names for the same satellite by slashes ( / ). Crewed flights are underlined. Launch failures are marked with the † sign. Payloads deployed from other spacecraft are (enclosed in parentheses).
