Iran to Display New Satellite-Launch Rockets

NTI: Global Security Newswire,

Iran announced yesterday it would soon display two new rockets capable of placing satellites in orbit, Agence France-Presse reported (see GSN, Jan. 10).

The Middle Eastern nation will roll out the Safir 1-B and Kavoshgar 4 rockets over a 10-day commemoration of its 1979 Islamic revolution, state media quoted Iranian Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi as saying. The celebration begins tomorrow.

The Safir 1-B rocket is capable of placing a 110-pound satellite in a 185- to 280-mile elliptical orbit, according to Iranian state television's website. A Safir 2 rocket in 2009 launched Iran's first domestically produced satellite into space.

Iran's new Kavoshgar 4 rocket can travel roughly 75 miles. The nation's Kavoshgar 3 rocket carried several small animals into orbit last February (see GSN, Feb. 3, 2010).

Vahidi last month said his country would fire a new observation satellite into space within months.

Iran's program for launching satellites has drawn concerns from the global community, as technology used to place orbiters into space can also be applied to ballistic missiles. Worries on Tehran's missile capabilities are twinned with suspicions that it is operating a nuclear-weapon drive in the guise of a civilian program. Iran says its atomic activities have no military component (see related GSN story, today; Agence France-Presse/Google News, Jan. 30).