. 24/7 Space News .
ROCKET SCIENCE
Trump says US 'not involved' in Iranian rocket failure
By Paul HANDLEY
Washington (AFP) Aug 31, 2019

File photo of a previous successful Iranian satellite launch.

President Donald Trump on Friday released a photograph of an apparently failed Iranian rocket launch and said that the United States had nothing to do with it.

Tehran has made no official comment on the indications from aerial photos that a rocket exploded Thursday on the launch pad at the Semnan Space Center in northern Iran.

But Trump tweeted a high-resolution picture of the location, with annotations pointing to damaged vehicles and the launch gantry, saying it involved Iran's Safir satellite rocket.

The incident comes after months of tensions between Iran and Washington. Trump last year unilaterally withdrew from the landmark 2015 international deal that placed limits on Tehran's nuclear activities in exchange for the lifting of sanctions, and he reimposed crippling financial penalties.

"The United States of America was not involved in the catastrophic accident during final launch preparations for the Safir SLV Launch at Semnan Launch Site One in Iran," Trump said in a tweet.

Publicly available satellite photos also show what appears to have been the rocket's explosion on its launch pad.

Tehran was believed to have been planning a third attempt to loft a satellite into space, after two launches in January and February failed to place satellites in orbit.

Iran's Minister for Communications and Information Technology Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi rejected reports that a satellite had been lost, but did not comment on the alleged launch-pad explosion.

"Apparently there were reports that the third attempt to put the satellite in orbit were unsuccessful. In fact, Nahid 1 is alright, and is right now in the laboratory. Reporters can come visit the laboratory, too. #transparency," he tweeted.

Azari Jahromi later posted a selfie of him in what appeared to be a laboratory alongside some equipment, tweeting: "Me & Nahid I right now, Good Morning Donald Trump!"

Washington keeps a close eye on Iranian space activities as an indicator of advances in its nuclear and ballistic missiles programs.

Iran says its rocket program is for civilian use in space. However, because the rockets use similar technology to long-range ballistic missiles, Washington eyes the country's activities skeptically.

Earlier this week satellite photographs from Planet Labs had shown that a fresh coat of blue paint had been added to the launch pad at the Imam Khomeini Space Port, part of the Semnan Center, suggesting a launch was in preparation.

Photographs taken on Thursday showed the paint scorched off of half of the pad.

- Did Trump expose US intel? -

But the commercial photographs showed none of the detail that Trump's did.

Intelligence experts said Trump may have exposed a previously unknown level of resolution US spy satellites have achieved, or that, somehow, US intelligence was able to get a closer shot of the launch site from an overflying aircraft.

Shadows and glare on Trump's picture suggested it was a snapshot of the original taken with a cellphone, presumably in a secure environment like the White House Situation Room, which has multiple video screens for intelligence briefings.

CNBC reported that a defense official confirmed the photo of the launch pad was included in Friday's White House intelligence briefing.

Speaking to reporters late Friday, Trump said he had the authority to release the picture.

"They had a big problem," he said of Iran's launch.

"We had a photo and I released it, which I had a right to do."

Allison Puccioni, an imagery specialist at Stanford University's Center for International Security and Cooperation, said on Twitter that such resolution is not available to people in the open-source, or public intelligence community.

"The dissemination of this image seems out-of-step with the US policy regarding its publication of such data. Not sure what the political objective of dissemination was," she said.

The New York Times reported this week that the US staged a secret cyberattack in June against a database used by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to plot attacks on oil tankers in the Gulf, the latest in an ongoing cyberconflict between the US and Iran.

sms-pmh/je/rma

THE NEW YORK TIMES COMPANY


Related Links
Rocket Science News at Space-Travel.Com


Thanks for being there;
We need your help. The SpaceDaily news network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain.

With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords.

Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year.

If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceDaily Monthly Supporter
$5+ Billed Monthly


paypal only
SpaceDaily Contributor
$5 Billed Once


credit card or paypal


ROCKET SCIENCE
NASA prepares for green run testing, practices lifting SLS Core Stage
Stennis Space Center MS (SPX) Aug 28, 2019
NASA cleared a milestone in preparation for Green Run testing of its Space Launch System (SLS) core stage with an Aug. 23/24 lift and installation of the core stage pathfinder simulator onto the B-2 Test Stand at Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Miss. The lift and installation of the core stage pathfinder - a size and weight replica of the SLS core stage - is helping teams at Stennis prepare for the Green Run test series. For this test of the new core stage, Stennis will lift the flight co ... read more

Comment using your Disqus, Facebook, Google or Twitter login.



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

ROCKET SCIENCE
China's satellite tests pulsar navigation for future deep space exploration

Spacecraft carrying Russian humanoid robot docks at ISS

Vegetable cultivation in the Antarctic for the Moon and Mars

Milestone demonstrates motor's reliability to enhance astronaut safety

ROCKET SCIENCE
China's first medium-scale launcher with LOX LCH4 propellants ZQ-2 soliciting payloads worldwide

Arianespace will launch Ovzon-3 satellite

NASA prepares for green run testing, practices lifting SLS Core Stage

Russia Launches Rokot Space Rocket to Orbit Military Satellite

ROCKET SCIENCE
NASA Invites Students to Name Next Mars Rover

NASA's Mars Helicopter Attached to Mars 2020 Rover

ExoMars rover ready for environment testing

Scientists Explore Outback as Testbed for Mars

ROCKET SCIENCE
China's newly launched communication satellite suffers abnormality

China launches first private rocket capable of carrying satellites

Chinese scientists say goodbye to Tiangong-2

China's space lab Tiangong 2 destroyed in controlled fall to earth

ROCKET SCIENCE
ESA and GomSpace Luxembourg sign contract for continued constellation management development

New Iridium Certus transceiver for faster satellite data now in live testing

KLEOS Space funding will start procurement of 2nd cluster of satellites

ThinKom Solutions Unveils New Multi-Beam Reconfigurable Phased-Array Gateway Solution for Next-Generation Satellites

ROCKET SCIENCE
China's Tianhe-2 Supercomputer to Crunch Space Data From New Radio Telescope

Chipping away at how ice forms could keep windshields, power lines ice-free

In NASA Glenn's Virtual Reality Lab, Creative-Minded Employees Thrive

In praise of the big pixel: Gaming is having a retro moment

ROCKET SCIENCE
Canadian astronomers determine Earth's fingerprint

The dark side of extrasolar planets share surprisingly similar temperatures

Study shows some exoplanets may have greater variety of life than exists on Earth

Newly Discovered Giant Planet Slingshots Around Its Star

ROCKET SCIENCE
Young Jupiter was smacked head-on by massive newborn planet

Mission to Jupiter's icy moon confirmed

Giant Impact Disrupted Jupiter's Core

Young Jupiter Was Smacked Head-On by Massive Newborn Planet









The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2024 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news 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. All articles labeled "by Staff Writers" include reports supplied to Space Media Network by industry news wires, PR agencies, corporate press officers and the like. Such articles are individually curated and edited by Space Media Network staff on the basis of the report's information value to our industry and professional readership. 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. General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Statement Our advertisers use various cookies and the like to deliver the best ad banner available at one time. All network advertising suppliers have GDPR policies (Legitimate Interest) that conform with EU regulations for data collection. By using our websites you consent to cookie based advertising. If you do not agree with this then you must stop using the websites from May 25, 2018. Privacy Statement. Additional information can be found here at About Us.