With the establishment of the Salmas and Chenaran ground stations, Iran has significantly enhanced the accuracy of satellite control and accelerated the reception of high-quality imagery.

Hassan Salariyeh, Head of the Iranian Space Agency, explained the critical role and details of these strategic facilities in an exclusive interview with Tasnim News Agency, stating: “Salmas and Chenaran stations are regarded as key space facilities in the northwest and northeast of the country, providing essential access to satellite data and enabling full satellite control operations.”

“In these stations, various antennas with diverse capabilities have been installed and commissioned to operate across different frequency bands and wavelengths. Moreover, the Satellite Mission Control Center is also deployed at these stations, where command uplinks and data downlinks are carried out,” he continued, emphasizing the strategic importance of expanding such infrastructure: “The more ground control centers we have — especially when they cover a broader expanse from east to west across the nation — the greater our flexibility becomes during satellite passes.”

“This directly extends the time window available for communicating with each satellite. As a result, we can now download imagery over significantly longer periods,” the agency chief elaborated.

Salariyeh highlighted additional operational gains, adding that the geographical spread shortens the time needed for satellite control and stabilization maneuvers, allowing us to achieve satellite attitude stabilization far more rapidly. “These advantages represent major strategic benefits of the new stations,” he said, concluding that the Salmas station has already been inaugurated, and the Chenaran facility will be officially opened in the very near future.