Sarkari Naukri

31 December 2021 Current Affairs:On December 30, 2021, Iran launched a rocket into space with a satellite carrier carrying three devices.

Highlights:

• It’s unclear when this launch took place or what devices the carrier launched into space.
• However, a spokesman for the Defense Ministry identified the rocket as “Simorgh, or Phoenix,” which launched the three devices into space at a distance of 470 kilometers.
• The status of the objects is unknown, implying that the rocket failed to place its payload into the proper orbit.
• Iran broadcast footage of the explosion against the backdrop of talks in Vienna aimed at reviving Iran’s shattered nuclear deal with world powers. 
• The eighth round of negotiations was recently completed. In recent years, Iran’s civil space program has suffered a series of setbacks, including fatal fires and a launchpad rocket explosion. 
• Iran has launched several short-lived satellites into orbit over the years.  In 2013, it launched a monkey into space.

Iranian Space Agency

• The Iranian Space Agency (ISA) is the country’s space agency. In 2009, the country achieved orbital launch capability. 
• It is one of the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space’s 24 founding members (COPUOS). On December 13, 1958, COPUOS was founded.
• ISA was established in February 2004 under the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, in accordance with Article 9 of the Law for Tasks and Authorizations.
• The AUT-SAT microsatellite, developed by Amirkabir University of Technology students, was launched onboard the Simorgh rocket in January 2019. It was unable to reach orbit.
• Iran successfully launched its communication satellite Zafar 1 onboard the Simorgh rocket from the Imam Khomeini Space Center in February 2020.
• Iran successfully launched “Noor,” a military satellite, into orbit in April 2020.