Watch: Russia launches Soyuz rocket carrying Iranian satellites into orbit

Russia’s space agency, Roscosmos, successfully launched a Soyuz rocket from the Vostochny Cosmodrome with a dual-mission payload. The rocket lifted off two primary Ionosfera-M satellites aimed at monitoring space weather around Earth, while deploying 53 smaller satellites, including two from Iran.
The main payload of the Soyuz-2.1 spacecraft, the Ionosfera-M satellites, each weighing 430 kg, will orbit 820 kilometers above the Earth’s surface. These satellites will form a crucial part of a wider system designed to monitor the ionosphere – an area between 50 and 400 miles above the planet where Earth’s atmosphere meets space.
According to Nasa, understanding the ionosphere is critical to space weather forecasting, as this layer affects satellite operations and global communications systems. Roscosmos plans to expand this system to include four Ionosfera-M satellites, with the remaining two scheduled for launch in 2025.
In addition to the primary payload, Russia also launched a number of small satellites, including Iran’s Kowsar and Hodhod. Kowsar, a high-resolution imaging satellite, and Hodhod, a communications satellite, mark Iran’s first private sector space technology launch. They join previous Iranian satellites launched by Russia, including the Khayyam Earth observation satellite in 2022 and the Pars-1 satellite earlier this year.

This launch underscores the growing cooperation between Moscow and Tehran as both nations expand ties across various domains. This comes as Western nations and Ukraine accuse Iran of supplying Moscow with drones for use in the Ukraine conflict – a claim both governments deny.
Iran’s latest Russian-backed satellite launches follow a series of setbacks in Iran’s civilian space program. In recent years, the country has faced several launch failures, including five consecutive failures with the Simorgh satellite program.
Accidents such as the 2019 launch pad fire that killed three scientists have hampered Iran’s progress. Furthermore, satellite images in October indicated that an Israeli retaliatory strike was likely to target a military facility used by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard’s space program.
The US intelligence community has flagged Iran’s satellite rocket technology as a potential shortcut to developing intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) capable of carrying nuclear warheads.
Following the collapse of the 2015 nuclear deal, Tehran has enriched uranium to near weapons-grade levels, a situation that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has warned could enable the production of several nuclear weapons if Iran chooses to continue.