The Islamic Republic of Iran successfully launches its second satellite christened Rassad (Observation) into the earth's orbit. The satellite, which is the country's first such imaging device, was launched by the Safir-e-Rassad satellite carrier on Wednesday thanks to Iranian aerospace scientists and experts' endeavor, IRNA reported. Despite its 15.3-kilogram weight, which puts it under the category of the micro-satellites, Rassad has all features of a big satellite. It has undergone all the stages required for its designing, manufacturing, assembly, test and preparation for launch inside the country. It will orbit the earth at an altitude of 260 kilometers 15 times every 24 hours. Its mission is to take images of the earth's surface and relay them to the earth-based stations together with telemetric information. The satellite is equipped with solar panels and uses solar energy to work. Iran launched its first domestically-produced satellite Omid (Hope) in 2009, which made it the ninth country to develop satellite launch capability. Tehran also plans to launch the country's first manned mission to space by 2019. Show Less >>