Iran tests solid-fuel satellite carrier rocket

TEHRAN: Iran’s Revolutionary Guards tested last week a solid-fuel satellite carrier rocket, state media has reported quoting the force’s aerospace commander as saying. Reports carried footage released by the elite force claiming to show the successful test of the rocket’s primary propulsion engine. The test marked the first time Iran used a solid-fuel rocket rather than a liquid-fuel one, the Guards’ aerospace commander Brigadier General Amirali Hajizadeh said on Thursday.

Iran can now send more satellites into space, he said. Solid-fuel rockets can be used for mobile launchers while pure solid-fuel rockets are mostly linked to ballistic missiles systems. "The new Iranian satellites are made of non-metallic, composite bodies with non-moving propellants, which will further increase the rocket’s energy and save costs."