In a surprise announcement, the Islamic Republic has signed an agreement with Russia under which Moscow will help Iran design satellites and put an astronaut into orbit.
A few years ago, Russia severed all dealings with Iran on space technology, even refusing to launch any more satellites for Iran after it put the Sine satellite into orbit in October 2005.
As of press time, Russia had not yet confirmed the reported new agreement with Iran.
Iran’s Fars news agency said the space agreement was signed recently during a meeting of Iranian Space Agency officials with the Russian Telcommunications Ministry.
Fars said the new agreement “focuses on building Iransat satellite.” It did not describe the Iransat satellite. A computer search shows the word was used before the revolution to describe an Iranian plan in 1977. Otherwise, it was not used again until this past week.
Fars said Iran wanted Russian aid in building new generations of satellites and putting astronauts in orbit. If true, that would be an admission of failure since Iran has been boasting in recent years that its space program is completely indigenous and that it doesn’t need any foreign help to build satellites. It has said it will put as astronaut in orbit by 2019.
The state news agency reported last week that an Iranian team was in Moscow discussing space programs with Russia’s Telecommunications Ministry. It quoted Hamid Fazeli, chief of Iran’s Space Agency, as saying that Iran’s main request was that Russia manufacture the Iransat satellite for Iran.
The article contained a strange quote from Igor Shchegolev, Russia’s telecommunications minister. He said: “Satellite communications comprise a major part of Russia’s economy and these communications are separate from the Telecoms Ministry and under the supervision and control of the Russian Federal Space Agency. Yet, the Telecommunications Ministry is the major client and the ordering party of the entire satellite telecommunications system.”
That made it sound like the Telecoms Ministry would simply be Iran’s agent in ordering the satellite and begged the question of why Iran was even talking to the Telecoms Ministry.
The Russian minister was also quoted as saying Russia could assist Iran in manufacturing small satellites and in such technical areas as satellite television and the Internet.
But the Russian Federal Space Agency has refused to launch any satellites for Iran since Sina was orbited 5 1/2 years ago. In June 2009, the head of that agency, Anatoly Perminov, made disparaging remarks about Iranian space officials as being incompetent. An American publication interpreted that to mean Russia was declining to launch Iranian satellites. Russia has not denied that in the two years since then and has not dealt with Iran in that time..
The fact that Iran’s latest agreement is with the Russian Telecoms Ministry rather than the Russian Space Agency suggests Iran is trying to go through the backdoor.
But, far more importantly, an agreement with Russia pulls the rug out from under Iranian claims of huge progress in satellite technology.
There is another issue as well, however. Fazeli told the Iranian state news agency that Iran needed to get a satellite into orbit swiftly or it would lose the orbital space it reserved years ago.
Iran has three registered space positions it can use for satellites. One of them is occupied by the Sina satellite that is still orbiting the earth, although Iran never discusses Sina and appears not to be using it much, if at all.
Iran must fill the other two spaces it has reserved with the International Telecommunications Organization or it will lose them. That is the urgency in appealing to Russia for help, Fazeli said. Reading between the lines, it appears Fazeli wants to buy a Russian satellite and have Russia put it in one of the reserved orbits quickly.
Iran has been saying for two years that multiple launches of Iranian-made satellites atop Iranian-made rockets were imminent. The agreement with Russia indicates that is not true.