The latest rocket failure follows this failed launch at Imam Khomeini Space Center in January 2019 in which the rocket also failed to reach the "necessary speed" in the third stage of its launch.Credit:AP
"Stage-1 and stage-2 motors of the carrier functioned properly and the satellite was successfully detached from its carrier,but at the end of its path it did not reach the required speed for being put in the orbit,"Defence Ministry space program spokesman Ahmad Hosseini told state TV.
Hosseini still sought to portray the failure as a"remarkable"achievement for its space program. Previous Simorgh launches of the 80-ton satellite carrier suffered other failures.
In the days leading up to the launch,Iranian officials had been promoting the mission,including the country's Information and Communications Technology Minister Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi. His quick rise through the Islamic Republic's carefully managed political system already is generating speculation he could be a candidate for Iran's 2021 presidential campaign.
Jahromi acknowledged the unsuccessful launch in a tweet shortly after the news broke on state TV,comparing it to a"few samples of US launch failures".
Iran's Minister of Information and Communications Technology Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi looks at The Nahid-1 domestically-built satellite at the space research center in Tehran,Iran.Credit:AP
"But We're UNSTOPPABLE! We have more Upcoming Great Iranian Satellites!"Jahromi tweeted in English,including a satellite emoji. He later tweeted in Farsi that"sometimes life does not go the way we like it to go."
He added:"Please do not pay attention to fake news."