Iran

• Launch capability
• Military space programs 
• Arms control

Iran has pursued space capabilities since 1977, when Tehran began to develop communications satellites to help the country modernize. Interest in space activities waned after the 1979 revolution, but has regained momentum since the early 1990s.[1]

Two national organizations in Iran oversee space activities. Established in April 2003, the Iranian Space Agency (ISA) is officially mandated to conduct "research, design and implementation in the field of space technology" and to develop national and international space technology and communications networks and remote-sensing capabilities.[2] Ahmad Talebzadeh (below) is the president of the ISA. Talebzadeh is also the deputy minister of Information and Communication Technology in Iran. He will also serve as the chairman of the Legal Subcommittee of the Committee on the Peaceful Usage of Outer Space at the United Nations for 2010/2011.[3] The Iran Space Council (ISC), Iran’s second national space organization, was created in February 2005 in the pursuit of peaceful space activities for the development of culture, technology, science, and finance.[2] The ISC is formally responsible for Iran's space policy and the ISA operates under its guidance.[4] The council is chaired by the president of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.[2] As the head of the ISA, Talebzadeh is also the secretary of the ISC.[2] Image: ISA.

There are three sets of potential motivations for Iran’s expanding space program. First, official justifications for the program focus on using space and related technologies to develop Iran’s economic and technological potential.[4] More specifically, accessing space would allow Iran to expand its telecommunications industries, monitor natural disasters, and even expand the influence of Iranian culture by widening the broadcast area of Iranian television and radio programs.[1,5] Developing indigenous satellite launch capabilities would also strengthen Iran’s scientific and high-tech knowledge base.[6]

Second, some analysts hypothesize that expanding Iran’s space assets, especially through the acquisition of more advanced satellites, would entail strategic benefits for the country. John Sheldon of the School of Advanced Air and Space Studies has argued that improved satellite capabilities would give Iran better reconnaissance imagery, enhanced missile targeting capabilities, and early warning means to detect incoming military attacks.[1] Third, some analysts also contend that an expanded space program could enhance Iran’s military might, should Tehran apply technologies developed for use in space towards augmenting its ballistic missile capabilities. From a technological standpoint, space launch vehicles could be used as a cover for developing ballistic missiles with longer ranges.[1,5,6,7] Nonetheless, Iran would have to modify its space launch vehicles to use them as ballistic missiles, and it remains unclear whether Tehran is presently attempting this.

As of February 2009, Iran had three satellites launched: in 2005, on a Russian Kosmos rocket; in 2008, on a Chinese rocket; and, in 2009, on a domestically built Safir rocket. Iran is believed to be working on two further projects.

Before venturing into satellite launches, Iran tested three launch vehicles in recent years. On February 25, 2007, ISA launched its first sounding rocket, as part of a suborbital test of its IRIS satellite launch vehicle. Approximately a year later, on February 4, 2008, ISA launched another sounding rocket, the Kavoshgar-1 (or Explorer-1). A state-run Iranian news agency stated that the Kavoshgar-1 launch was undertaken in preparation for Iran’s first indigenous satellite launch.[8] Concomitant with the Kavoshgar-1 launch, Iran also opened a new national space center in the Semnan province, designed for satellite launch and control.[9] On August 17, 2008, Iranian state-run media claimed that Iran had tested another rocket in advance of its coming launch of its domestic Omid ("Hope" in Farsi) satellite. The media referred to the new rocket as the Safir-e Omid, or Ambassador of Peace, and alleged that the test included two stages.[10] Iranian officials stated that the rocket tests were in preparation for the planned launch of the Omid, originally scheduled to be launched by March 2009.[11]  

International Cooperation

Iran’s space program has relied heavily on foreign assistance – for technology, expertise, and space launches – and is likely to continue to draw on foreign know-how until Iran’s indigenous capabilities mature. Tehran has gained assistance from China, India, Italy, North Korea, and Russia in the realm of space technology.[12] Chinese and North Korean assistance primarily derives from the provision of ballistic missile technology, which Iran has altered for use in space launch vehicles. In 2005, Iranian officials spoke of expanded space cooperation between Iran and China.[13] Iran and China cooperate within the framework of the Asia Pacific Space Cooperation Organization (APSCO), which Iran joined in 2005. Both countries started working with Pakistan, South Korea, Thailand, Mongolia, and Bangladesh to build the SMMS satellite for environmental and disaster monitoring,[1] a satellite successfully launched in September 2008.[14] India and Iran also engage in limited space cooperation, as India allows Iran to access data from some of its remote-sensing satellites.[1] The Carlo Gavazzi Space company of Milan, Italy, developed the Mesbah satellite for Iran.[1] The Italian space corporation also agreed to train Iranian space scientists as part of the agreement to build the Mesbah,[15] although the current launch date for the satellite is unknown. A Russian company built the Sinah-1, and Russia launched the satellite for Iran in 2005.[1] A Russian company also concluded a 2005 contract to build the Zohreh satellite, although the current status of the satellite is also unknown.[1]

Satellite Programs

Iran currently has five satellite programs. Two programs are in development, two satellites have been launched on foreign launch vehicles in 2005 and 2008, and Iran successfully launched its first domestically produced satellite on an indigenous launch vehicle in February 2009.

On October 27, 2005, a Russian Kosmos rocket launched from the Plesetsk cosmodrome successfully orbited Iran's first satellite, the Sinah-1.[16] Tehran lost the satellite’s signal shortly after it was launched and the Sinah-1 never became operational.[17] The 160 kg satellite cost approximately $15 million,[18] and was built in Russia with limited contribution from Iranian scientists.[19] Officially, the satellite was intended to provide Iran with satellite imagery of its own territory and to help monitor natural disasters.[20] Yet, hypothetically, the Sinah-1 could also have served strategic purposes. If it had functioned long enough to transmit data, it would have been capable of producing reconnaissance imagery of other countries in the Middle East, including Israel.[20] Regardless of this potential strategic potential, John Sheldon posited that the Sinah-1 was most likely designed for communications purposes, since its imaging capability would have been rudimentary at best.[17]

The Mesbah ("Beacon" or "Lantern" in Farsi) is the second satellite being prepared for launch. The construction of the Mesbah is a cooperative effort with the Italian Carlo Gavazzi Space company and is estimated to have already cost $11.3 million.[20] This satellite weighs 75 kg and has an expected lifetime of three years.[17,20] The satellite was the first Iranian satellite project to include indigenous technology and was heralded by the Iranian science minister as a new “era of producing and developing technology.”[20] The Iranian government has described the Mesbah as a civilian telecommunications satellite.[17] Originally scheduled for launch at the same time as the Sinah-1, the Mesbah’s deployment has been delayed and, as of February 2009 it was unclear when, or whether, the satellite would be launched.

Iranian leaders have expressed interest in a satellite project called Zohreh ("Venus" in Farsi) since the 1970s, when the idea of this civilian telecommunications satellite was birthed to help Iran develop economically.[17,21] However, interest in this project was slow and uneven, and a contract to build the satellite was only completed with Russia in 2005.[21] The cost for development is estimated at $134 million.[21] Despite potential dual uses, the satellite seems to lack jam-proof capabilities. This would leave the satellite’s military applications vulnerable, making Sheldon doubt that it would be intended for military purposes.[17] Officials at Roskosmos, Russia’s Federal Space Agency, have stated that the Zohreh will not be launched earlier than 2009.[22]

A fourth Iranian satellite is the Small Multimission Satellite (SMMS), part of a joint project with China, Pakistan, South Korea, Thailand, Mongolia, and Bangladesh. This remote-sensing system was planned to be equipped with two, charge-coupled device cameras capable of 30-meter resolution, as well as a hyperspectral imager.[23] The SMMS was also supposed to be launched in 2006.[24] On September 7, 2008, a reportedly joint research satellite of China, Iran, and Thailand was launched atop a Chinese rocket with the declared purpose of boosting cooperation in coping with natural disasters.[37] Iranian telecommunications minister Soleimani said the satellite was equipped with cameras, but refrained from other declarations.[14]

Iran’s first indigenously developed satellite, the Omid (seen at left with President Ahmadenijad on the right), was first put on public display during the opening ceremony for Iran’s national space center on February 4, 2008.[25, 31] According to Robert Tait of The Guardian, the satellite has been under development for the last decade.[25] Long before its launch, Iranian officials have stated that Omid would be used for domestic telecommunications purposes and for monitoring natural disasters such as earthquakes.[26] Both President Ahmadenijad and the Iranian Defense Minister Mostafa Mohammad Najjar publicly announced that the Omid would be launched during the summer of 2008.[27] On August 16, 2008, Iranian officials announced that they had launched the Omid using the Safir satellite launch vehicle. However, U.S. officials immediately challenged the veracity of that claim, declaring that no evidence could confirm such a launch. By the next day, Iranian officials and state-run media outlets had revised their statements.[23] Image: ArmsControlWonk.com.

On February 2, 2009, coinciding with the anniversary of the 1979 revolution, Iran successfully launched the Omid,[29, 30] into an orbit with a 55 degrees inclination.[31] The reportedly 25-27 kg satellite carrying space environment measurement instruments [32, 30] was launched from an as yet unknown site in Iran [31, 32] using an Iranian-made delivery vehicle, the Safir-2.[33, 34] Iranian media reported that the satellite is orbiting at an altitude of between 155 and 250 miles,[35, 31] circles the Earth every 90-100 minutes,[30, 31] and has two frequency bands and eight antennas for transmitting data.[35] Iranian officials underlined the peaceful nature of their country’s technological achievement. President Ahmadinejad stated that "with this launch the Islamic Republic of Iran has officially achieved a presence in space,"[29] and dismissed suggestions that Iran's space program had military goals.[30] Manucher Mottaki, Iran’s minister of foreign affairs, also stressed that Iran's satellite related activities had peaceful objectives,[36, 30] and the Omid satellite was expected to provide Iran with "environmental data."[29, 30] Reza Taghipour, the head of the Iranian Aerospace Industries Organization, stated that Iran planned to launch several satellites by 2010 with the aim of improving its telecommunications network and national disaster management programs,[33] a statement consistent with older declarations.[28] Taghipour was also quoted saying Iran planned to launch another rocket by the end of March 2009.[30]

Relevant Link

Iranian Space Agency

Footnotes

[1] John B. Sheldon, “A Really Hard Case: Iranian Space Ambitions and the Prospects for U.S. Engagement,” Astropolitics, Vol. 4, No. 2 (Summer 2006), pp. 229 - 251.

[2] Iran Space Agency website, at: http://isa.ir/en/rs/.  

[3] “Information Archive,” Iranian Space Agency website, July 2008, at: http://www.isa.ir/components1.php?rQV===AfAJDQ6QWSldWY1dmbhxkclRXZtFmchB3XmxHQ4gDQ6QWStVGdp9lZ8BUM4ATMApDZJ52bpR3Yh9lZ.  

[4] “Iranian National Space Agency,” GlobalSecurity.org website, at: http://www.globalsecurity.org/space/world/iran/agency.htm.  

[5] Sebastian Abbot, “Some Fear Iran’s Space Program Aims to Produce Long-Range Missiles,” International Herald Tribune, March 5, 2007, LexisNexis.

[6] Yiftah Shapir, “Iran’s Efforts to Conquer Space,” Strategic Assessment, Vol 8, No 3 (2005), at: http://www.tau.ac.il/jcss/sa/v8n3p2Shapir.html.  

[7] Nazila Fathi, “Iran Launches Rocket to Commemorate New Space Center,” The New York Times, February 7, 2008, at: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/05/world/middleeast/05iran.html.  

[8] “Iran Rocket Launch ‘Troubles’ U.S.” Telegraph (London), August 17, 2008, at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2576267/Iran-rocket-launch-troubles-US.html; “Iran Launches Research Rocket ‘Into Space,’” The Associated Press, February 4, 2008, at: http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/02/04/africa/ME-GEN-Iran-Space-2nd-Ld-Writethru.php.  

[9] “Iran Launches Research Rocket ‘Into Space,’” Associated Press, February 4, 2008, at: http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/02/04/africa/ME-GEN-Iran-Space-2nd-Ld-Writethru.php.  

[10] William Broad, Steven Lee Meyers, and Thom Shanker, “Iran Reports Test of Craft Able to Carry a Satellite,” The New York Times, August 18, 2008, LexisNexis.

[11] “Iran Will Soon Send Omid Satellite to Orbit,” Iranian Students News Agency, August 25, 2008, World News Connection.

[12] Joseph Bermudez, “Iran Inaugurates Space Terminal and Launches Research Rocket,” Jane’s Defence Weekly, February 13, 2008, subscription only.

[13] William Broad and David Sanger, “Iran’s Eye on Outer Space; Another Piece in Tehran’s Atomic Puzzle?” The New York Times, April 4, 2007, p. 1.

[14] "Iran, Thailand, China launch satellite," DAWN, September 7, 2008, at: http://www.dawn.com/2008/09/08/top20.htm.  

[15] “Mesbah (Lantern,)” GlobalSecurity.org website, no date, http://www.globalsecurity.org/space/world/iran/multi.htm.  

[16] Lee Kass, “Iran’s Space Program: The Next Genie in the Bottle?” The Middle East Review of International Affairs, Vol. 10, No. 3 (September 2006), at: http://meria.idc.ac.il/journal/2006/issue3/jv10no3a2.html.  

[17] John B. Sheldon, “A Really Hard Case: Iranian Space Ambitions and the Prospects for U.S. Engagement,” Astropolitics, Vol. 4, No. 2 (Summer 2006), pp. 229 – 251.

[18] Yiftah S. Shapir, “Iran's Efforts to Conquer Space,” Strategic Assessment, Vol. 8, No. 3 (November 2005), http://www.tau.ac.il/jcss/sa/v8n3p2Shapir.html.  

[19] “First Iranian Satellite Goes Into Orbit on Russian Rocket,” San Diego Union-Tribune, October 28, 2005, http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20051028/news_1n28iran.html.  

[20] Ali Akbar Dareini, “Iran Says Satellite Capable of Spying on Israel,” The Associated Press, November 16, 2005, Lexis-Nexis.

[21] “Iran to Launch Telecommunications Satellite in Next Two Months,” Vision of the Islamic Republic of Iran Network 1 (Tehran), August 4, 2005, in FBIS Document IAP20050804398002.

[22] Steve Metcalf, “Iranian State Broadcaster’s Plans for its Own Satellite,” BBC Monitoring Worldwide, February 5, 2008, LexisNexis.

[23] “Russia, Iran Discuss Economic Cooperation,” Itar-Tass (Russia), February 25, 2006, in FBIS Document CEP20060226029018.

[24] “Iran to Build Satellite in Cooperation with China,” Mehr News Agency (Iran), November 16, 2005, in FBIS Document IAP20051116011033.

[25] Robert Tait, “Iran Claims Launch into ‘Space’ of Rocket Capable of Taking Satellites,” The Guardian (UK), February 5, 2008, at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/feb/05/iran.spaceexploration.  

[26] Atul Aneja, “Iran Tests Satellite Launch Rocket,” The Hindu (India), August 19, 2008, at: http://www.hindu.com/2008/08/19/stories/2008081955671300.htm.  

[27] Charles Vick, “Iran’s Up-coming First Satellite Launch Attempt & ‘Kavoshgar’ Sounding Rocket & the First Satellite Launch Vehicle ‘Safire,’” GlobalSecurity.org website, March 25 – April 12, 2008, at: http://www.globalsecurity.org/space/world/iran/first-satellite-launch-attempt.htm.  

[28] “Iran Rocket Launch ‘Troubles’ U.S.” Telegraph (London), August 17, 2008, at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2576267/Iran-rocket-launch-troubles-US.html; “Iran Launches Research Rocket ‘Into Space,’” The Associated Press, February 4, 2008, at: http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/02/04/africa/ME-GEN-Iran-Space-2nd-Ld-Writethru.php.  

[29] "Iran Launches First Indigenous Satellite," Global Security Newswire / Nuclear Threat Initiative, February 3, 2009, at: http://gsn.nti.org/gsn/nw_20090203_9363.php.  

[30] "Iran sends first home-built satellite into orbit," AFP, February 3, 2009, at: http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5j2zKTDe8t9Hd8per7Mc3yUYkAKAQ.  

[31] Geoffrey Forden, "Congratulations Iran," ArmsControlWonk.com, February 3, 2009, at: http://www.armscontrolwonk.com/2174/congratulations-iran.  

[32] Jonathan McDowell, "Iranian Satellite Launch," Jonathan's Space Report, 606 Draft, February 3, 2009, at: http://planet4589.org/space/jsr/latest.html.  

[33] Thomas Erdbrink and Joby Warrick, "Iran Reports Launching Its Own Satellite," The Washington Post, February 4, 2009, at: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/03/AR2009020300285_pf.html.  

[34] Nazila Fathi and William Broad, "Iran Launches Satellite in a Challenge for Obama," The New York Times, February 3, 2009, at: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/04/world/middleeast/04iran.html?pagewanted=1&sq=omid&st=cse&scp=1.  

[35] Nasser Karimi, "Iran launches first homegrown satellite into orbit," The Associated Press, February 3, 2009, at: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5h4ynWXGgXIWuMo6jcZGbdrhyuZ9AD964AKS00.  

[36] "Minister stresses Iran satellite activities peaceful," Fars News Agency, via BBC Monitoring, February 3, 2009, at: http://www.individual.com/story.php?story=95753215.  

[37] "Iran satellites get Thai help," Bangkok Post, September 8, 2008, over BBC Monitoring Asia Pacific, Lexis Nexis.

{Updated 02/03/09}