ICT Minister backs transforming space knowledge into wealth, meeting people’s needs

He made the remarks in an article in the Tehran-based Iran Newspaper on Saturday to mark the World Space Week.

The full text of the ICT Minister’s article is as follows.

“Orbit: The Beginning of Value Creation

By Seyyed Sattar Hashemi

Minister of Information and Communications Technology

World Space Week is a valuable opportunity to review the achievements of an advanced industry. Today, space is one of the key arenas for scientific power, economic development, and the future governance of countries. A country’s position in this field is no longer measured solely by the number of satellites it has or the success of its launches. The more important question is how space knowledge and infrastructure can be transformed into services, wealth, and solutions to people’s problems.

The reality is that the enemy has realized that we have reached irreversible milestones in the space sector, and that the operational and functional phases of this industry in Iran are advancing rapidly. Therefore, this was the primary and most important reason behind the missile attacks on the country’s space centers. Although the infrastructure of the Space Research Institute and related laboratories was damaged, the country’s space program did not come to a halt. Rebuilding the infrastructure was placed on the agenda, and the path of development continued. During this same period, three satellites were launched into space, and progress at the Chabahar Spaceport advanced from approximately 40 percent to nearly 98 percent.

This experience demonstrated that the principal asset of the space industry is not merely buildings, laboratories, or launch pads. The knowledge and human resources of this industry constitute an asset that does not disappear when infrastructure is damaged. Of course, drawing on the valuable lessons we have learned, additional measures have been implemented to protect this strategic industry and strengthen its resilience.

In recent years, placing the Nahid-2 telecommunications satellite into orbit, the success of the Chamran mission, the stabilization of the Ghaem launch vehicle’s performance, the use of the Saman orbital transfer block, and the development of remote-sensing satellites have all been part of the progress made. Alongside these achievements, the participation of knowledge-based companies and the private sector, as well as the move toward satellite constellations, has opened up new horizons for the country’s space industry.

But now we must take a more important step: space capabilities must be connected to people’s lives and the national economy.

Global estimates indicate that the space economy could reach approximately $1.8 trillion by 2035, growing by around 9 percent annually. These figures show that future competition will not be limited to building satellites and reaching orbit. The main competition will be over transforming space data and services into products, markets, and economic value.

For this reason, space policymaking must shift from a supply-driven approach toward a demand-driven one. Technology demonstrates its true value when the end user is involved alongside the developer and a real need serves as the starting point for design and development.

In remote sensing, this approach can help with agricultural monitoring, water resources management, dust monitoring, mining, and land surveying and cadastral mapping. In telecommunications, satellites are not intended to replace terrestrial networks and fiber-optic infrastructure. Each technology must be deployed where it is most appropriate, according to the geography and the needs involved. Where terrestrial development is difficult, satellite communications can help bridge part of the connectivity gap. In areas where high-quality fixed infrastructure is available, fiber optics will continue to serve as the backbone of the network.

The shift from individual satellites toward satellite constellations is important from this same perspective. The Shahid Soleimani constellation can help transform the country’s communications capacity from a single, standalone mission into a continuous service. At the same time, the development of the Chabahar Spaceport will expand the country’s capacity to access orbit and enable space missions to be carried out more regularly.

However, making space economically viable is impossible without reducing the cost of access to orbit. This year’s theme, “The Satellite Launcher Revolution,” is important from precisely this perspective. Launching multiple satellites with a single launch vehicle, developing orbital transfer blocks, and moving toward reusable launch vehicles can not only create technological value but also reduce mission costs and pave the way for new markets to emerge.

Reducing mission risk is also part of this same economic equation. The development of the Noura and Shams software systems to evaluate system performance before launch and support mission control after launch is an example of efforts to reduce the cost of failure and increase the reliability of space missions.

I also believe that the space economy will not take shape without the private sector. Knowledge-based companies, universities, and private-sector businesses must evolve from being project manufacturers and contractors into genuine players across the space value chain—a chain that begins with design and manufacturing and extends to launch, data, services, and markets.

Ultimately, the space industry will reach economic maturity when its impact can be seen in people’s lives. A satellite reaching orbit does not mark the end of a mission; it marks the beginning of a journey that must lead to better data, broader connectivity, more precise resource management, new businesses, and a higher quality of life.

Today, we are no longer striving merely to reach space. What we build in space must serve people here on Earth. Therefore, orbit is not the end of the road; it is the beginning of value creation.”