![This photo released on Feb. 2, 2015 by the Iranian Defense Ministry, claims to show the launching Safir-e Fajr, or Ambassador of Dawn, satellite carrier in an undisclosed location in Iran (AP photo by the Iranian Defense Ministry).](https://www.worldpoliticsreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/l_iran_satellite_09292016_1.jpg?w=519&h=259&crop=1)
Editor’s note: This article is part of an ongoing WPR series on a range of countries’ space priorities and programs. The head of Iran’s space agency announced plans last month to launch three satellites into orbit within the next year: the Doutsi earth-observation satellite, the Tolou remote sensing satellite and the Aat Sat telecommunications satellite. In an email interview, John B. Sheldon, the chairman and president of ThorGroup GmbH, a Swiss-based consulting company, and publisher and editor of SpaceWatch Middle East, discusses Iran’s space program. WPR: What are Iran’s space capabilities, in terms of its space-industrial complex, and what are […]