Iran will build a satellite launch base * Launch a photography satellite * An updated overview of the Iranian space program

The Iranian government officially announced the base, the existence of which was already known to the world's intelligence agencies, following the launch of an observation satellite yesterday.

Last night, Iran launched the Navid satellite (news in Farsi) - a satellite that photographs in one color and with low resolution, but it is still progress for the Iranian Hal program.
The weight of the satellite is 50 kilograms and its orbit allows it to photograph at heights between 250 and 375 kilometers above the earth. Iran prides itself on the fact that the satellite was designed and built by local scientific forces without outside assistance (although of course this is not accurate because many technologies in the field of satellites can be purchased on the free market).
According to Iranian media reports, the launch into space was carried out following a direct order from President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Navid is the third photography satellite that Iran has launched into space in recent years, the previous satellites did not survive long and crashed to the ground after only about a month.

Iran announced that it will build a base for launching satellites in its territory. The Iranian government media network Press TV reports that the base will be established in an area in southern Iran which they say is the safest place for such a base, because it is close to the Sea of ​​Oman on one side and the Indian Ocean on the other and is sparsely populated.

The head of the Iranian Space Agency (whose initials are also ISA) Hamid Fazli said that the Islamic Republic intends to establish a satellite launch base in cooperation with the Ministry of Defense. "Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad ordered the cabinet to review and update the plan and its required budget has already been allocated," he said.

In January, the Minister of Defense, Brigadier General Ahmed Vahidi, said that Tehran plans to launch a satellite during the first ten days of February, which are also a national holiday, to mark the 33rd anniversary of the victory of the Islamic Revolution in Iran in 1978. On November 12, 2011, Vahidi announced that Iran intends to launch into space self-made satellites named Fajar (dawn) Navid (harbinger) and Tolo (Alia) during the coming Persian year (starting on March 20).

Senior officials in the field of space in Iran talked about the launch of another satellite called Zafar (Victory) that weighs 90 kilograms and is capable of circling the earth in an elliptical orbit that peaks at a height of 500 kilometers.

Iran launched its first experimental satellite Omid (Takana) in 2009, becoming the ninth country to successfully launch a satellite by itself, with the eighth country being Israel in 1988 (see Tal Inbar's review below)

Iran is the 24th member of the UN Treaty on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space, founded in 1959. Tehran also plans to launch a manned space mission in 2019.

Tal Inbar, head of the field of space at the Fisher Institute, dedicated one of the lectures at the annual Ilan Ramon Space Conference held earlier this week at the Air Force Base in Herzliya: "The field of space is presented relatively freely by the Iranians and recently they started participating in international exhibitions and conferences."

"The space program is divided into four axes: the satellite development axis - again right now Iran is dealing with small satellites, almost meaningless from a security point of view, but in terms of research and applications of agriculture and disaster monitoring - we are starting to see results. Another axis is the field of launchers where the Iranians have extensive activity in the field based almost exclusively on Shihab missile technology which are themselves based on North Korean missiles - that is, a copy of Russian technologies from the XNUMXs but they contain original improvements and upgrades."

"Another axis is the national infrastructure, and recently launch facilities were exposed. The fourth and last axis is the research and development system including aspects of infrastructure and manpower which the Rabbi shared very young. Many of the Iranian engineers study even in these years at research institutions in the West and bring a lot of knowledge into Iran."

"In a declared manner, Iran is talking about sending a man into space by 2019. This is not an orbital mission but a suborbital flight. At this stage, the focus is on research rockets carrying animals." Amber says.

"The first generation of Iranian satellites were unstable satellites, dependent on a battery and without a camera. The first Omid satellite was launched in 2009 and was the Iranian Sputnik, but even this was enough to add it to the space club after Israel did so in 1988. Another satellite - not the most accurate - launched during the summer of 2011, was equipped with solar cells and a rechargeable battery and the initial ability to take pictures from space."

A number of three-axis stabilized satellites, with deployable solar cells, propulsion systems including electric propulsion for changes and maneuvers in orbit to overcome the limited efficiency of resources are now under development. Satellite launchers can be a basis for further development of missile capabilities.

The first satellite was supposed to be from Sabah but it did not go into space due to a malfunction in the Russian launcher that carried it. In 2005, the Russian-made Helvin Sina was launched. The Omid satellite was the first to be designed, built and launched in Iran. Rasad - a nano satellite was in space for several weeks. Masbah 2 has not launched yet. Regarding Fujer, there were several statements in which it would have the ability to change course, an ion engine system, but still its weight does not allow it to be launched using the current launcher and we are waiting for the heavier launcher.

Also under construction are AUTSAT and Zafar - two satellites that are supposed to photograph in several colors. Tulum containing cameras with a resolution of 10 meters. Also in the planning is Zorach - a future communication satellite and two satellites Fars 2 and Masov 2 with a better ability to cruise in space and the ability to photograph in several wavelengths. "The ability to have a photography satellite in space puts Iran in a different place, except that they are constantly investing in developing and improving the capabilities." Amber says.

Missile wires?
Right now the Iranians have six satellites ready, kept in storage and waiting to be launched. They apparently have problems in the field of launchers, some of the satellites cannot enter the current launcher and the future launcher is not yet operational. According to the statements of Vahidi - the Minister of Defense during 2012, the first trial launch of the new launcher will be seen.

Today, the Iranians mainly use the Saphir launcher, a two-stage launcher that runs on liquid fuel, the first stage is the same as the Shihab 3 military missile. The second stage includes two rocket engines that have been identified as copies of an old Russian submarine-launched ballistic missile. The Iranians purchased a number of missiles from Korea to use their components to launch satellites but also to launch military missiles from the base located in Samnan, the launcher arrives by truck, erected and launched like many Russian launchers. The more powerful launcher that was introduced two years ago is called SIMORGH, it is 27 meters tall and contains 4 engines and is supposed to lift payloads of up to 100 kilos into space. Seymour is a step on the way to an intercontinental ballistic missile and indeed Congress says that in 2015 Iran will be able to hit the United States. A new launch site may be revealed in the coming week by the Iranians.

At the end of the nineties, the Saphir missile was launched for the first time, in 2008 there was a failed launch. In the same year they presented the Saphir launcher in August it failed but in February 2009 they succeeded and launched a 30 kilo satellite thus entering the list of space powers after Israel. And since then, as mentioned, two additional satellites have been launched (the figure is as of Monday, 30/1/2012 AB)
Another vigorous activity of the Iranians is in the field of research rockets - the Institute for Aviation and Space Research, which in 2010 was absorbed into the Iranian Space Agency, conducted experiments in launching live rockets. It has no military value, another facet of pure research activity that allows them to present the legitimate research-academic appearance.

"Many ground stations have recently been opened in Iran. Iran is a member of the body known as the Organization for Cooperation in the Field of Space for Asia and the Pacific, which is headquartered in Beijing. In this framework, a Chinese remote sensing satellite was launched with a resolution of 2 meters and they practice receiving the broadcasts and decoding the image, which allows them to train people to operate satellites."

"Academic, industrial and other bodies are also connected to the Iranian space establishment. To date I have mapped more than 150 organizations working on various ventures in the space program, this makes it difficult to distinguish who does what and how much money is invested in the Iranian space program. The minimum estimate speaks of 1.5-2 billion dollars per year. A large part of the Iranian space program relies on the technological infrastructure of the Iranian security system - from the same budget, when they intensify the activity in space it means there is less for other things."

Iran is also active in the field of space in the international arena. The UN has an office for outer space affairs and a UN committee on the use of space for peaceful purposes. Ahmed Taleb Zadev was appointed to be the head of the legal sub-committee. It is mildly said that he is a man associated with bad things, which are contrary to the purpose of the office located in Beijing by the way.
The head of Iran's space and aviation research center, which also provides well-known services to the long-range rocket industry, has joined the advisory committee of the International Astronautics Organization (IAF).
The Iranian space program receives high-level political support, including from the supreme religious leader Khamenei, and President Ahmadinejad. The activity serves the goals of the Islamic government but also contributes to the motivation of the people.
Recently, several reports were published about Iran's capabilities in the fields of space warfare. There is no confirmation of the claim that the Iranians blinded an American satellite. But they know how to disrupt GPS transmissions and the competing Russian GLONASS technology. And of course they often block communication satellites. The Iranians don't really like unruly channels broadcasting to Iran, so they broadcast on similar frequencies and cause severe blockages and interference with other communication satellites. This caused a conflict between Iran and the World Telecommunication Union ITU to such an extent that they are discussing the negative spot in the sky reserved for Iran.

"Beyond the fact that there are several rounds of sanctions that do not include the space sector, at least for satellites technologies can be purchased on the open market. It is also very easy to present an Iranian engineer who goes to study in Europe as a man of the space program and not as a member of the Revolutionary Guards.

see also "The Iranian hope in space"