Iran's Satellite Offensive

This week, Iran put one satellite into orbit and says it's going to launch three more domestically-made satellites by the end of March 2012. While expected, the continued development of satellite and rocket is not being viewed favorably by its neighbors, Europe and the United States.

Iranian state TV announced the launch of Rasad (Observation)-1 on June 15 on board a Safir rocket from an “unknown” location in Iran, according to the Guardian, with the satellite put into a 260 kilometer orbit above the earth. Based on what little information is coming out of Iran, Rasad-1 is an imaging satellite of some sort, weighing in at a paltry 13.5 kilograms and will be used for mapping. It isn't clear what sort of resolution the satellite can deliver; 150 meters is widely quoted, but there's no original source for the number.

On June 17, Fars News Agency announced Iran would put three more home-made satellites into orbit in the coming months. Kavoshgar 5 (Explorer 5) weighs in at 285 kilograms and will be launched between July 22 and August 22. Fajr and Navid will be launched later.

Iran launched its first home-made satellite, Omid (Hope), in February 2009. Omid was a 27 kilogram research satellite designed to be a “store and forward” communications platform that spent seven weeks in low earth orbit before

Trying to assess Iran's space progress is difficult, because there's no independent press coverage and government presentations tend to overstate successes and capabilities. Another recent Fars News Agency report says the country has developed a multi-stage rocket called Simorgh (Phoenix) that is capable of carrying a 60 kilogram payload up to 500 kilometers into orbit.

Since rocket technology can just as easily be applied to launching warheads at other countries as putting satellites into orbit, most of the world community is concerned about the dual-use nature of Iran's announcements. Combine continued development of long-range rocket technology with a nuclear program most everyone expects is working towards a weapon and one can see where officials from many governments are unhappy.

On the other hand, Iran has a long history of announcing a number of ambitious satellite and rocket projects that have been delayed due to engineering problems. Rashad-1 was supposed to have been launched last summer. The successful launch of Rasad-1 this week doesn't immediately translate to an intercontinental missile with a nuclear warhead, but instead represents progress towards that capability.

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Source: TMCnet