I read an AP news release about an alleged Iranian Shahab-4 rocket that was launched into space. I have not seen any confirmation from international sources that the are tracking, or have tracked the launch. Further, several sources stated that the launch was sub-orbital and not into space. (BBC, ABC)
Iran's state media says, and the head of Iran's aerospace program have said that the launch was for research purposes. Evidently, Iran wants to start sending it's own satellites into space. Currently Iran works with the Russians to send satellites into orbit. Iran wants to have 4 satellites in space by 2010 for land and mobile phones. They also want 12 transponder satellites for internet and communications systems.

Information beyond this is a little hazy. Slashdot posted an article claiming that the BBC had announced that Iran had launched a payload into space. However, the BBC article that was linked to from slashdot makes no reference to a payload.

Spaceref had posted a press release in January stating that this missile program was ready for the testing phase, so it is not unlikely that the test took place. However, there is no way to tell if the test was successful, as the Iranians claim, without confirmation or denial from Western countries with the ability to track such a launch. This information may have been made classified, leaving all of us in the dark - That's the only reason that I can see for not hearing anything from an American source.

Bookmark/Search this post with:

delicious | digg | reddit | furl | technorati