TEHRAN - The head of the Iranian Space Agency has outlined plans to develop a “satellite internet” network in the country.

“To develop satellite constellations to offer ‘wideband’ services in low Earth orbit (LEO) requires a large number of satellites. Based on the altitude of the orbit and the type of design, sometimes it would be necessary to inject several thousand satellites into the orbit to achieve full coverage,” said Hassan Salarieh when asked by reporters on Iran’s ability to develop satellite constellations to offer “wideband” internet services similar to Starlink.

LEO is defined as the orbital region of satellites that typically ranges from 500 to 2000 kilometers above the Earth's surface, allowing for lower data transmission delays and faster Internet connection speeds compared to traditional satellites that orbit at approximately 36,000 kilometers.

Elsewhere in his remarks, Salarieh touched upon the economic dimensions of such plans, adding such satellites, by nature, rotate along orbits. He said it is essential that a large international market is provided for their services because such satellite constellations should cover a large part of countries around the world if they are supposed to be economically viable. Iran has made great strides in the space industry in recent years.

Recently, the head of the Space Agency revealed new progress on the country's heavy-lift satellite launchers Qaem 120, upgraded Simorgh, and Qaqnus, adding that the vehicles are being developed to place heavier payloads into LEO.

Hassan Salariyeh stated that this year has seen launches by the "Qased," "Simorgh," and "Zuljanah" satellite carriers, with most of these launches aimed at "technology development."

Turning to launcher development, Salarieh said several parallel tracks are underway in advancing solid-fuel satellite carriers.

He stated that after the development of the “Qaem 100,” the “Qaem 105” project from the same family is now being pursued in cooperation with the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps Aerospace Force.

He also said development of the “Qaem 120” launcher is planned, noting it can carry heavier payloads to LEO compared with the earlier Qaem 100 version and has the potential to reach a 36,000-kilometre orbit in an elongated elliptical trajectory, or GTO.

According to Salarieh, multiple related projects have been defined, with suborbital and test launches expected soon.