Iran to build 3 more Khayyam observation satellites

[aurora899]

From 'The Times of Israel':

TEHRAN — Iran plans to commission three more versions of a satellite launched this week by Russia, Tehran’s government spokesman said Friday.

The Khayyam blasted into orbit on Tuesday, prompting US accusations that it is intended for spying. Iran dismissed Washington’s claim as “childish.”

“The construction of three other Khayyam satellites with the participation of Iranian scientists is on the government’s agenda,” its spokesman Ali Bahadori-Jahromi said on Twitter.

A Soyuz-2.1b rocket sent the satellite into orbit from the Moscow-controlled Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Tuesday.

Responding to the launch, Washington said Russia’s growing cooperation with Iran should be viewed as a “profound threat,” but the head of Iran’s space agency, Hassan Salarieh, dismissed the accusation.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/iran-to-build-3-more-suspected-spy-satellites-as-concern-mounts-over-russia-ties/

[aurora899]

Here's an interesting, and completely different(!), take on the matter from the Iranians themselves, via the 'Tehran Times':

https://www.tehrantimes.com/news/475546/Iran-determined-to-develop-space-technology

[Tomness]

Here's an interesting, and completely different(!), take on the matter from the Iranians themselves, via the 'Tehran Times':

https://www.tehrantimes.com/news/475546/Iran-determined-to-develop-space-technology

What's the meme were, oh they just built ICBMs. You don't say.

[Steven Pietrobon]

The last line is interesting.

"Iran’s global ranking in space technology has improved from 95 in 1996 to 11 in 2017."

I think they got No.11 from this article, but that groups many European countries under ESA.

https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/countries-with-space-programs

The list is a little strange as it lists Australia, Brazil and Kenya as "Space Agencies Capable of Completing Space Launches (2022)" and ignores the UK (Black Arrow) and New Zealand (Electron)!

[Vahe231991]

The last line is interesting.

"Iran’s global ranking in space technology has improved from 95 in 1996 to 11 in 2017."

I think they got No.11 from this article, but that groups many European countries under ESA.

https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/countries-with-space-programs

The list is a little strange as it lists Australia, Brazil and Kenya as "Space Agencies Capable of Completing Space Launches (2022)" and ignores the UK (Black Arrow) and New Zealand (Electron)!

Iran was largely able to enter the spacefaring club thanks to ballistic missile tech supplied to it by North Korea, given that the Safir and Simorgh use technology derived from the Scud and Rodong.

Brazil's space program has had three failures, and it is trying again with the VLM rocket. South Africa has had previous experience with SLV development, because it used Israel's Shavit SLV and Jericho missile as the basis of the RSA-3, and in the early 2000s it undertook design of the Cheetah SLV.

[rubicondsrv]

The list is a little strange as it lists Australia, Brazil and Kenya as

when did kenya start a space program?  brazil and austrailia could have satellite launch capibility quickly if money was spent, but I didn't know kenya had any sort of aerospace or missile industry. 

[russianhalo117]

The list is a little strange as it lists Australia, Brazil and Kenya as

when did kenya start a space program?  brazil and austrailia could have satellite launch capibility quickly if money was spent, but I didn't know kenya had any sort of aerospace or missile industry. 

https://ksa.go.ke/
Scroll down to the countries chronological history section. It began post independence (all prior space interests were via the UK government directly) space activities though a joint venture the Italian Space Commission in 1964 under a government ministry. It created its own independent space programme a few decades later in what was the predecessor of the present KSA.
https://ksa.go.ke/about/

[Vahe231991]

The list is a little strange as it lists Australia, Brazil and Kenya as

when did kenya start a space program?  brazil and austrailia could have satellite launch capibility quickly if money was spent, but I didn't know kenya had any sort of aerospace or missile industry. 

https://ksa.go.ke/
Scroll down to the countries chronological history section. It began post independence space activities though a joint venture the Italian Space Commission in 1964 under a government ministry. It created its own independent space programme a few decades later in what was the predecessor of the present KSA.
https://ksa.go.ke/about/

Kenya could be enlisted by South Africa to take part in development of South Africa's Cheetah SLV project as well as any move to revive the RSA-4 SLV program that South Africa undertook in the late 1980s-early 1990s.