September 08, 2008	Monday	Ramazan 07, 1429

TEHRAN, Sept 7: A joint research satellite of China, Iran and Thailand was launched on a Chinese rocket on Sunday aimed at boosting cooperation on natural disasters such as earthquakes, an Iranian minister said on Sunday.

The announcement came just a few weeks after Iran said on Aug 17 it had put a dummy satellite into orbit on a domestically-made rocket for the first time. US officials said the attempted launch was a failure.

Telecommunications Minister Mohammad Soleimani said the three countries had worked together on the satellite which he said was equipped with cameras.

“This morning it was launched successfully and it was placed into orbit,” he told state television, without giving details.

“Iran and China and regional countries are countries which have a lot of natural disasters,” he said. “God willing, we can have good activities in the direction of aerospace research.”

Iran tested domestically-made rocket as part of its satellite programme. It said it needed two more tests before putting a satellite into orbit.—Reuters