[FPSPACE] Sino-Iranian satellite mystery

[Stephane Chenard]

Dear FPSpacers,

Here is a puzzle for you.

Remember SMMS, the Small Multi-Mission Satellite ? First announced around
1996 and largely a Chinese initiative, it was to be a joint observation
satellite built by and for China, Iran, Thailand, South Korea, Mongolia,
Pakistan and Bangladesh. Various MoUs and agreements were signed by
ministers, a few papers were given at successive IACs, and no satellite was
ever launched. Most observers gave up on it as a valiant but ultimately
empty venture, another of these "regional space agency" daydreams.

But not in Iran, where SMMS kept surfacing once or twice a year in IRNA
dispatches and newspaper interviews, at least once with an Iranian code
name, SM-25. On 15 August 2005, a Dr Merham Mirshams, "deputy director if
the Iranian aerospace association", thus told ISNA, one of the main wire
agencies, that "the multi-purpose SM25 satellite is among the projects of
the Iranian space agency, China, South Korea and Thailand. It is
research-oriented and will be used in telecommunications and remote
sensing".

More discreet references through 2008, just to confirm that the thread is
not broken between Iran and the multi-national SMMS.

Then, on 6 September 2008, ISNA suddenly announces that "Iran's jointly-made
Small Multi-Mission satellite (SMMS) was launched on Saturday from China's
launch pad. The project was jointly carried out by some Asian countries
including Iran".

On the next day, 7 September, the minister of Communications and Information
Technology, Mohammed Soleymani, one of the key men in the Iranian space
program. As translated by OSC:

(Announcer) Iran, China and Thailand have put a joint remote sensing
satellite in orbit using a Chinese rocket.

(Soleymani) We have worked together for some years (...) It was successfully
launched this morning and put into orbit. Various cameras have been placed
on this satellite. They can photograph the earth's surface. (...) I
congratulate the Iranian people and the people in the region for this
success".

This is only one of Iran's key ministers making an explicit, unambiguous
statement, on primetime. China launching an observation satellite partly for
Iran's use, you could expect a lot of reaction. In fact, there was not a
peep of confirmation from either China or any of the other countries
involved, or from those usually hyper-attentive Iran-watchers in the
Jerusalem Post. Xinhua only said the launch carried HJ-1A and HJ-1B, two of
China's long awaited disaster monitoring satellites, not considered
particularly mysterious.

The Bangkok Post, on September 8, repeated the minister's statements without
seeking to dig too much around it, but included this paragraph: "In Bangkok,
Information and Communications Technology Minister Mun Patanotai said
Thailand cooperated with China, Iran, Pakistan, Mongolia, Bangladesh and
South Korea to develop a small multi-mission satellite for non-military
purposes".

And that's all there is on the record. Apart from HJ-1A and 1B, the launch
(NORAD 33322) has left two objects in orbit, 2008 41C and 41D, which I see
are described on satellite tracking web sites as "debris" and "upper stage".

China's silence, the Thai minister's vaguely embarassed boilerplate and the
absence of subsequent Iranian comment all suggest that either (1) one of the
HJ-1 satellites had Iranian stuff in it but we were not supposed to know, or
(2) there was a SMMS also riding on that CZ-2C, but it failed. Or maybe Mr
Soleymani had smoked something or misread his brief, but that's not his type
- he's usually very articulate, he was very clear on that occasion, and
satellites are not a joke in Iranian state media.

What do you think ? Have you seen anything published anywhere on that matter
? Has anyone tracked anything bizarre associated with launch 33322 of
September 6, 2008 ? Am I the only one to ask myself those questions ?