The satellite was unveiled at a ceremony attended by senior space industry officials, marking a key step in Iran’s plan to validate technologies for a planned 24-satellite low-Earth-orbit constellation led by the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology.
Hatef-3 (meaning a caller whose voice is heard but who is not seen) has been built as a flight-like experimental model to verify the performance of systems that will be used in the operational Soleimani constellation.
The project is being developed by a specialized domestic consortium comprising three main companies and 12 knowledge-based firms, a cooperation model that officials say brings together young technical talent and existing national capabilities.
From a technical standpoint, Hatef-3 is a CubeSat-class satellite built on a 6U platform, with a total mass of about 20 kg, including its deployment mechanism.
The test mission has three primary objectives.
First, it aims to verify the in-orbit performance of key subsystems, including propulsion, the onboard computer and the power management system.
Second, it will validate flight software and operational algorithms in the space environment.
Third, it is intended to demonstrate constellation deployment technologies, including precise orbital injection into designated orbital planes using domestically developed launchers.
In a related development, the head of the Iranian Space Agency said compatibility tests were under way ahead of a possible launch later this year.
“The satellite unveiled today (Hatef-3) is in fact the first complete model of the Soleimani satellite constellation,” said Hassan Salarieh, head of the Iranian Space Agency, speaking on the sidelines of Space Technology Day.
“We refer to this satellite as a test model, because it must be placed in orbit and its performance in space must be evaluated,” he said.
Salarieh noted that two sub-scale satellites, Fakhr-1 and Hatef-2, were successfully launched last year to test selected subsystems such as attitude and power control.
Turning to the current mission, he said Hatef-3 carries multiple critical subsystems whose performance is essential for completing the constellation.
“These include attitude control, Earth-pointing, three-axis control, orbit change and orbit correction, all of which are key technologies for this constellation,” Salarieh said.
He added that the purpose of the test launch was to ensure full confidence in system performance before deploying the full 24-satellite network.
“If there is even a small flaw in the design of any satellite, the entire objective of forming the constellation will not be achieved,” he said.
On launch preparations, Salarieh said the agency plans to proceed once testing is complete.
“Our plan is to carry out the launch by the end of the current year,” he said.
“At this moment, compatibility tests between this satellite and the Simorgh launch vehicle are under way,” he added.
He cautioned, however, that the launch schedule could shift if further testing is required.
“If during testing there is even the slightest doubt about the performance of a subsystem, we will stop and re-examine it, because quality will not be sacrificed for speed,” Salarieh said.