[FPSPACE] Iran May Launch Its Own Spy Sat

[LARRY KLAES]

Iran May Launch Its Own Spy Sat

The Iranians will use the BM25 ballistic missile as their launch vehicle.

by Martin Sieff

UPI Senior News Analyst

Washington (UPI) Feb 07, 2007

Is Iran about to put a spy in the sky? The Israeli debka.com Web site, which 
maintains a wide circle of sources within Israeli intelligence, has claimed 
that Tehran may soon launch its own surveillance satellite. The booster 
vehicle would be a BM25 ballistic missile, "18 of which were purchased from 
North Korea, notwithstanding Pyongyang's denials of aid to Iran's nuclear 
program," Debka said in a report published Jan. 28.

Allaeddin Boroujerdi, chairman of the Iranian parliament's national security 
and foreign policy commission, claimed last month that Iran had already 
constructed its own surveillance satellite and that it had already 
"converted a ballistic missile into a space launcher," Debka said.

"If this claim is correct, then Iran has a launcher able to put 300 
kilograms (660 pounds) into earth orbit -- and by the same definition, an 
ICBM that could drop more than 300 kilograms anywhere in the world, 
including Washington DC," Debka said.

http://www.spacewar.com/reports/Iran_May_Launch_Its_Own_Spy_Sat_999.html