Subscribe free to our newsletters via your
. 24/7 Space News .




MICROSAT BLITZ
Iran sends first home-built satellite into orbit
by Staff Writers
Tehran (AFP) Feb 3, 2009


Iran said on Tuesday it has launched its first domestically manufactured satellite into orbit, raising fresh concerns among world powers already at odds with Tehran over its nuclear drive.

The new US administration of President Barack Obama, which has offered to open a dialogue with Iran if it "unclenched its fist", said that "all elements of our national power" remain on the table in dealing with any threat.

"Dear Iranians, your children have put the first indigenous satellite into orbit," a jubilant President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on state television after a launch coinciding with the 30th anniversary of the Islamic revolution.

"With this launch the Islamic Republic of Iran has officially achieved a presence in space," he said.

The Omid (Hope) satellite was sent into space on Monday evening carried by the home-built Safir-2 space rocket, Iranian news agencies reported.

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs expressed disappointment with the Iranian move following the overtures made by the new US president.

"This action does not convince us that Iran is acting responsibly to advance stability or security in the region," Gibbs told reporters.

"All of this continues to underscore that our administration will use all elements of our national power to deal with Iran and to help it be a responsible member of the international community," he said.

In London, British Foreign Office minister Bill Rammell voiced "serious concerns" over the launch.

"This test underlines and illustrates our serious concerns about Iran's intentions," Rammell said in a statement, adding that Britain was still carrying out technical analyses.

The launch comes at at time when Iran is ignoring repeated UN Security Council demands to freeze sensitive nuclear work.

The West suspects Iran of secretly trying to build an atomic bomb and fears the technology used to launch a space rocket could be diverted into development of long-range ballistic missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads.

Iran vehemently denies the charges, saying its nuclear programme is for peaceful energy purposes only and that it has the right to the technology already in the hands of many other nations including archfoe the United States.

Ahmadinejad said the satellite carried a message of "peace and brotherhood" to the world and dismissed suggestions that Iran's space programme had military goals.

"We have a divine view of technology unlike the dominating powers of the world who have Satanic views," he said.

Ahmadinejad has made scientific development one of the main themes of his presidency, asserting that Iran has reached a peak of progress despite international sanctions and no longer needs help from foreign states.

The state news agency IRNA said the satellite would take orbital measurements and would circle the Earth 15 times every 24 hours.

Iranian aerospace expert Asghar Ebrahimi said Omid has an elliptical orbit of a minimum of 250 kilometres (156 miles) and a maximum of 400 kilometres.

The launch comes on the eve of a meeting in Germany on Wednesday of senior diplomats from six world powers who are due to discuss the Iranian nuclear standoff, with Tehran still defying calls for a freeze on uranium enrichment.

Obama said last month shortly after taking office that he was willing to extend the hand of diplomacy to Iran, after 30 years of severed diplomatic relations.

Iran sent its first Safir rocket into space in August. It is about 22 metres (72 feet) long, with a diameter of 1.25 metres (a little over four feet) and weighs more than 26 tonnes .

Iran's most powerful military missile, the Shahab-3, has a diameter of 1.30 metres and measures 17 metres in length. It has a range of 2,000 kilometres (1,250 miles) -- putting archfoe Israel and US forces in the region within reach.

Last year Iran triggered concern in the West when it said it had sent a probe into space on the back of a rocket to prepare for a satellite launch, and announced the opening of a space station in a remote western desert.

Iran has pursued a space programme for several years, and in October 2005 a Russian-made Iranian satellite named Sina-1 was put into orbit by a Russian rocket.

Reza Taghipour, head of the Iranian space agency, said Iran would launch another satellite carrier by the end of the Iranian year on March 20, Fars said.

.


Related Links
Microsat News and Nanosat News at SpaceMart.com






Comment on this article via your Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, Hotmail login.

Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle








MICROSAT BLITZ
Iran puts first satellite in Orbit: agencies
Tehran (AFP) Feb 3, 2009
Iran has placed its first homemade satellite in orbit using a Safir-2 rocket, two local news agencies reported Tuesday without quoting sources. "On the 30th anniversary of the Islamic revolution and with the order of the president the national Omid satellite was launched," Fars news agency said. "This is the first satellite that has been launched in the history of our nation and it was ... read more


MICROSAT BLITZ
NASA Selects Teams For Moon Impact Observation Campaign

USRA Selects Awardees For LCROSS Observation Campaign

NASA Goddard To Investigate The Stormy Moon

Exploring The Eighth Continent

MICROSAT BLITZ
Spirit Resumes Driving

NASA And Google Launch Virtual Exploration Of Mars

Mars Rover Team Diagnosing Unexpected Behavior

NASA-Derived Technology Captures Unique Inaugural Image

MICROSAT BLITZ
NASA Ames Becomes Home To Newly Launched Singularity University

Western powers worried about Iran satellite technology

Planetary Society Reaches Out To Congress On NASA Funding

Successful Test In Development Of NASA's New Crew Rocket

MICROSAT BLITZ
China plans own satellite navigation system by 2015: state media

Fengyun-3A Weather Satellite Begins Weather Monitoring

Shenzhou-7 Monitor Satellite Finishes Mission After 100 Days In Space

China Launches Third Fengyun-2 Series Weather Satellite

MICROSAT BLITZ
Russia To Use Two Launch Pads At Baikonur For ISS Missions

Spacehab To Support Pre-Launch Preparations For Russian Module

Kogod Students Pioneer Branding Potential Of International Space Station

Russia Tests Phone Home To Santa Network

MICROSAT BLITZ
Arianespace To Launch Hispasat 1E

Arianespace Orders 35 Ariane 5 ECA Launchers From Astrium

Arianespace seals four-billion-euro rocket deal

New Ariane 5 Arrives In French Guiana

MICROSAT BLITZ
COROT Discovers Smallest Exoplanet Yet

Worlds apart: Satellite spots smallest 'exoplanet' ever

Spitzer Watches Wild Weather On A Star-Skimming Planet

Astronomers Get A Sizzling Weather Report From A Distant Planet

MICROSAT BLITZ
State-Of-The-Art Grating For Gaia

SBIRS Payload Operationally Accepted

Eutelsat Statement On The W2M Satellite

Japan's Fujitsu scraps HDD head business




The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2014 - Space Media Network. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement