The state news agency reported Tuesday that Hamid Fazeli, the chief of the Iranian Space Agency, said the three new satellites would be launched by new rockets, not that Safir-1A that has been used to date.
He said the Safir-1B would be used to launch the Sharif satellite, which will be the last in a series designed by students at universities, and the Nahid, which will be equipped with solar panels to provide power. However, Iran claimed that its second satellite, orbited more than a year ago, was also equipped with solar panels.
Fazeli said the Zafar satellite, intended to stay in orbit 1 1/2 years, would be launched by the much touted Simorgh rocket. However, before the launches of Iran’s second and third satellites, the government said they would be launched atop the Simorgh—but they weren’t.
A mockup of the Simorgh that was shown off in 2010 shows it to be much larger than any Iranian rocket to date. Fazeli said it would put the Zafar satellite into an orbit 500 kilometers above the earth, higher than any previous Iranian satellite.
Fazeli said the Simorgh’s engine is four times more powerful than any other Iranian rocket engine and can boost a 100-kilo satellite into a 500-kilometer orbit. A 100-kilo satellite is still small, and is rated as a micro-satellite in the industry; microsatellites are those weighing 10 kilos to 100 kilos. The heaviest satellite Iran has thus far orbited weighed 27 kilos.
Fazeli did not say when any of these three new satellites would be launched. Furthermore, he said the Simorgh rocket still needs to be tested, so it could be years before it is ready.
Iran launched its third satellite, the Navid, into orbit in February atop the Safir-1A, although Iran had previously said the Navid would be lofted by the Simorgh. That suggests the Simorgh is having teething problems.
There are numerous holes in Iran’s satellite plans. For example, in June 2011, Fazeli said the Fajr satellite would be orbited by October 2011. It was not launched then. On May 14 of this year, Mehdi Farahi, head of Iran’s aerospace industries, said the Fajr would be fired into orbit May 23, the day Iran sat down with the Big Six in Baghdad to discuss its nuclear program. That was the first time Iran announced a specifc satellite launch date in advance.
But nothing was announced May 23. In August, Fazeli said the Fajr would be launched in “a few months.” He did not mention the Fajr in his latest discussion of Iran’s space program last week.
Fazeli was also silent last week on the fate of the Kavoshgar sounding rocket and Iran’s plans to use it to loft a monkey into space, part of Iran’s announced plans to put a man into orbit by 2019.
When it happens, it will be the sixth known launching of a Kavoshgar, which seems to be suffering serious problems.
The Kavoshgar is a sounding rocket, which means it does not put a payload into orbit; it simply flies straight up into space and then falls back down.
Kavoshgar 1 was launched in February 2008. It was a test shot only to check out the missile. It appeared to work well.
Kavoshgar 2 was launched in November 2008. The Space Agency produced a photo showing how the nosecone had been parachuted safely back to earth. It said the nosecone would be used to carry living organisms into space as part of Iran’s effort to put a man into orbit.
Kavoshgar 3 was launched in February 2010. It carried a rat, two turtles and some worms. Iran said it landed safely. But unlike after Kavoshgar 2, the Space Agency released no photos of the nosecone or animals post-flight, prompting some doubts.
Kavoshgar 4 was launched in March 2011. The launch was only announced two days afterward, not the normal hours afterward. There were no photos released afterward and no claims that any animals were on board, which prompted questions as to why the program appeared to be taking a step backward to just testing the missile itself.
Kavoshgar 5 was launched in August 2011. Weeks beforehand, officials had said the rocket would carry a monkey. But no announcement was made until October, two months after the launch, when an official said the rocket “had not achieved all its objectives.” It appeared to many that the rocket had achieved none of its objectives if the regime was being so slow to speak. There was speculation, but no evidence, that the rocket may have exploded on the launch pad. Nothing was said about the monkey that was supposed to have been on board.
Officially, that Kavoshgar 5 has ceased to exist as the next launch, announced this summer for July was identified as Kavoshgar 5. And Fazeli said that rocket would carry a monkey. PressTV quoted Fazeli as saying the unnamed monkey had been in “training over the past year.”
But there was no launch in July. Fazeli next said Kavoshgar 5 was still undergoing testing and would be launched after the end of Ramadan which was August 18. Nothing further has been announced about Kavoshgar and the monkey.
The first living creature launched into space was a Russian dog, Laika, who was fired into orbit more than a half-century ago in November 1957 aboard the second Soviet satellite. Information on her heart rate and other reactions to the launch were radioed back to earth. But there was no way to return her to earth and Laika died in orbit.
Iran has orbited three satellites in four years. Omid stayed in orbit 85 days, Rasad for just 21 days and this year’s Navid for 60 days. But the very first satellite owned by Iran was launched by Russia and will mark its seventh anniversary in orbit October 27.
Iran has said all four satellites were equipped with cameras. But the only images released so far have come from Russian-made Sina satellite orbited in 2005.
There are about 3,000 satellites in orbit at present and new satellites are added at the rate of about two per week.
Iran is only the ninth country ever to put a satellite into orbit aboard its own rocket. The other are the Soviet Union in 1957, the United States in 1958, France in 1965, Japan in 1970, China in 1970, Britain in 1971, India in 1980 and Israel in 1988.