ASoyuz-2.1b rocket booster with the Iranian satellite Khayyam blasts off from the launchpad at the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, August 9, 2022. (Roscosmos)

The spokesperson of the Iranian Space Agency (ISA) Hossein Daliriyan announced that the country's Khayyam satellite has started monitoring and mapping land use changes.

The spokesperson said that the Iranian Space Agency (ISA) and the Information Technology Organization of Iran (ITO) are looking into legal means to produce and deliver the initial batch of satellite pictures to courts investigating land expropriation disputes.

He noted that an MoU has already been signed between the ISA and the ITO to procure satellite images that would offer accurate data necessary for resolving land disputes in court.

“Khayyam satellite is currently taking images from different parts of the country as part of efforts to implement the memorandum of understanding. These images will be utilized in order to address legal challenges of ordinary people and state institutions concerning land use changes,” Daliriyan said.

“We are ready to offer necessary data to other Iranian state agencies and help them solve their problems in various fields, including environmental monitoring, water resources, soil erosion, and land subsidence."

The Khayyam satellite was launched in August last year from a Kazakhstan launch pad after being carried by a Russian Soyuz rocket.

The satellite, which was named after Persian polymath Omar Khayyam, is equipped with remote sensing technologies, which allow the satellite to provide "accurate spatial data."

The director of the IPM Institute for Research in Fundamental Sciences described the launch of the satellite as being a highly significant breakthrough in the cooperation between Tehran and Moscow.

Iran’s collaboration with Russia in the development of satellite carriers, manufacturing satellites, tracking stations, on-earth tracking, and data analysis would be exceptionally beneficial, he added, noting that the Islamic Republic enjoys good capabilities and can achieve more in this respect, but critics remain ignorant of these options.