[FPSPACE] Iran launches first satellite

[James Oberg]

> Duncan Lennox, editor of Jane's Strategic Weapons Systems, said: "Iran
> is just following what the United States, Russia and China did in the
> early stages of their missile programmes, transferring the technology
> from satellite launches to ballistic missiles."

Nonsense, he's got it precisely backwards.

The Safir-2 looks like an equivalent to a Jupiter-C... on the path
to serious long-range missiles, but not far along it.




----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Mark Wade" <astronautix at gmail.com>
To: <fpspace at friends-partners.org>
Sent: Tuesday, February 03, 2009 8:15 AM
Subject: [FPSPACE] Iran launches first satellite


> Iran launches first satellite
>
> Film:
>
> http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article5649206.ece
>
>>From Times Online
> February 3, 2009
>
> Iran launches own space satellite to mark 30 years since
> revolutionMichael Evans, Defence Editor
> Iran has claimed success in launching its first home-built satellite
> into orbit, using a rocket which the West believes is part of its
> long-term ballistic missile programme.
>
> Until official satellite spotters confirm Tehran's claim, made by
> President Ahmadinejad, the Iranian leader, on state television, the
> announcement will be treated with a degree of scepticism. The first
> two attempts at launching an Iranian-built satellite, in February and
> August last year, failed.
>
> If the Iranian President's claim turns out to be true, however, it
> will provide further proof of Tehran's growing ability to master the
> technology for developing a long-range ballistic missile.
>
> Despite Mr Ahmadinejad's insistence that the satellite mission was
> purely for peaceful purposes, experts said there was an undeniable
> link between the rocket launch and Iran's military programme.
>
> Duncan Lennox, editor of Jane's Strategic Weapons Systems, said: "Iran
> is just following what the United States, Russia and China did in the
> early stages of their missile programmes, transferring the technology
> from satellite launches to ballistic missiles."
>
> Iranian news agencies reported that a Safir 2 space rocket launched
> the Omid (Hope) satellite into orbit, coinciding with the 30th
> anniversary of the Islamic revolution. "With this launch, the Islamic
> Republic of Iran has officially achieved a presence in space,"
> President Ahmadinejad claimed on state television.
>
> He dismissed as "old talk" the accusation by the West that Iran's
> space programme had military goals. The satellite, he said, carried a
> message of "peace and brotherhood" to the world.
>
> Manouchehr Mottaki, the Iranian Foreign Minister, speaking in Addis
> Ababa, said the satellite would enable Tehran to receive environmental
> data. The state news agency, IRNA, said the satellite would take
> orbital measurements and would circle the Earth 15 times every day.
>
> The announcement comes just a day before senior diplomats from the
> United Nations Permanent Security Council - Britain, the US, Russia,
> China and France - as well as Germany, are due to meet near Frankfurt
> to review Iran's continuing uranium-enrichment programme.
>
> The timing of the satellite launch will not be lost on the diplomats
> of the six countries who have to decide what extra measures might be
> necessary to try and persuade Iran to stop enriching uranium which the
> West, and Israel, believes is part of a clandestine ambition to build
> a nuclear weapon. The ballistic missile programme is seen as being
> inextricably linked to Tehran's nuclear goal.
>
> The Safir 2 appears to be a version of Iran's Shahab 3 ballistic
> missile which forms the basis of the weapons programme, although
> Tehran uses a number of different names for its missiles, including
> Ghadr 1, Ashoura and Sejjil.
>
> The Iranians say they have developed a ballistic missile with a range
> of 2,000-kilometres, but Mr Lennox said there was no evidence to back
> this claim. Russia has said that Iran has built a missile with a range
> of 1,500 kilometres, capable of reaching Israel.
>
> The Safir 2 is a two-stage, possibly three-stage, rocket which uses
> liquid propulsion. It's 72ft long and weighs more than 26 tonnes. The
> Shahab 3 is a one-stage liquid-propulsion missile.
>
> Last year, Iran caused concern in the West when it sent a probe called
> Kavoshgar (Explorer) into space on the back of a rocket which Tehran
> said was in preparation for a satellite launch. In October 2005, a
> Russian-made Iranian satellite named Sina 1 was put into orbit by a
> Russian rocket.
>
> Reza Taghipour, head of the Iranian space agency, said Iran would
> launch another satellite rocket on March 20.
>
>
>
> -- 
> Mark Wade
> Encyclopedia Astronautica
> http://www.astronautix.com/
> astronautix at gmail.com
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