Tal Inbar, head of the Center for Space Research, Fisher Institute for Strategic Air and Space Research, analyzes Iran's situation in space following the introduction of the new missile
The picture is taken from an Iranian website
During the inauguration of a new center for space research, Iran presented a series of technological developments that bring it closer to achieving an independent launch capability into space. Except for the state-of-the-art "Sapphir" satellite launcher, The first self-designed Iranian satellite was presented to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Minister of Defense, commanders in the Revolutionary Guards and other Iranian officials. The satellite is called OMID (Tikvah in Persian) and is a small cube-shaped satellite. This satellite is intended to fly into space during the coming year aboard the Iranian Safire satellite launcher.
Several new details about Iran's satellite program were provided by Iranian Defense Minister Mustafa Mohammad Najjar. According to Najjar, between the years 2010-2013, Iran will produce two "communication and research satellites", and will also develop a satellite in fusion with other unspecified Islamic countries, named Besharat.
Iran's news agencies have not published technical details about this satellite, except for the announcement that it was developed and produced entirely in Iran. An analysis of the images published by Iran reveals that it is a tiny satellite, built in the shape of a cube, whose tail is about 30 to 40 cm long. The satellite has multi-directional antennas, which apparently indicates that it lacks a stabilization system and is directed towards the Earth. From the images it is not possible to assess what the purpose of the satellite is, beyond being a technological demonstrator.
Iran has one satellite operating in space since November 2005, and is called SINA. This satellite was designed and built by the Ukrainian Yuzhnoy company and was launched into space from the Plesetsk launch pad. Together with this satellite, the satellite from Sabah, designed and built by the Italian Carlo Gavazzi company, in collaboration with Iranian experts, was supposed to go up into space, but an electrical malfunction during the integration of the satellite with the Russian launcher prevented its launch, and its condition is unknown to this day.
