The Iranian satellite Sina-1 was successfully launched into space on a Russian rocket
Avi Blizovsky
The Iranian satellite Sina-1 was successfully launched into space. Among other things, the launch was transmitted live thanks to another satellite, built by school students from around Europe (the first student satellite of the European Space Agency) and which is on the same rocket. In any case, the first stage of the Russian missile successfully separated at the appointed time, a few tens of seconds after launch. Now the satellites are making their way to orbit, where they will part ways.
Iran's first satellite, known as "Sina 1" will be launched this morning.
The launch is expected at 08:22 European time (and also Israel time)
Tal Inbar, a senior researcher at the Space Research Center of the Fisher Institute for Strategic Air and Space Research says that now the Iranians have officially announced that Iran is on the verge of launching its first satellite into space. The researcher, who follows the Iranian space program from 1997, further explains that: "Tomorrow (October 27) Iran is going to launch into space - for the first time - a satellite of its own production. The original Iranian plan was to launch two satellites, but following a serious malfunction in the "Masbah" satellite (the result of cooperation with the Italian company "Carlo Gavazzi"), there is no certainty that 2 satellites will be launched or only one. The launch will be carried out from Russia on a Russian Cosmos 3 M launcher."
"Iran has diverse programs in the field of space, including the construction of communication satellites (in collaboration with Russia), the development of home-made space launchers, and the operation of additional space systems for military and civilian uses. The self-launching of a satellite by Iran has considerable strategic implications, as the achievement of this capability implies the ability to launch long-range surface-to-surface missiles - beyond the current range of the Shihab 3 missiles."
Inbar adds: "At the head of the Iranian space program is Iranian President Ahmadinejad, and Defense Minister Simkhani shows great involvement in the space issue. Simkhani was recently interviewed on Iranian television (July 23.7.05, XNUMX) and noted that in the last eight years significant steps have been taken in Iran in the field of stations for receiving satellite broadcasts, control, launches, launch sites and tracking of satellites. Simkhani also noted that these steps that Iran is taking are done to achieve Iran's military needs in space."
Some sources that monitor future launches into space have omitted the "Masbah" from the list of satellites that the Russian rocket will carry, leaving only the smaller satellite. At the moment it is difficult to know whether both satellites will be launched or only one of them.
News about the satellite on the website of the official Iranian news agency
The chain on the Orange site that follows the launch
for a live broadcast of the launch around 08:22 am
