Iran Space Plans
Iran’s minister of communications and information technology (ICT) said the country’s space industry has gained significant achievements especially since the administration of President Ebrahim Raisi assumed power in August 2021. The space industry has been fully indigenized, Issa Zarepour said, adding that 11 satellite launches were launched during the two years of the current administration in office, which is unprecedented.
Speaking 04 February 2024 at the conference of the National Day of Space Technology, the ICT minister emphasized that the administration has paid special attention to the space industry. Iran has high capabilities and potential to further enhance its technical know-how in space technology, he said. Iran has managed to gain great achievements in the space field since the glorious victory of the Islamic Revolution in 1979, he stated.
Iran is currently among the top 10 countries in the space industry nad has managed to localize this significant industry, the ICT minister highlighted. Iran has manufactured a satellite launcher, indigenized satellite carriers and also land data receiving stations, so the country can now launch its homegrown satellites to orbit using the indigenized satellite carriers, he added. He further noted that a $500 million budget will be allocated for the development and progress of the space industry, $150 million of which has been earmarked already.
It seemed to some that the upstream documents of the country's space industry are not given serious attention and there is a disorder and confusion in the country's upstream industry. But the problem is the determination to implement. Since 2005, Iran had a long-term and medium-term space program that lasted for 10 years. The first 10-year plan was relatively successful due to the serious determination of the government at the beginning, but this program was not transferred to the next periods and this was due to the lack of serious determination of the government rulers, and clearly, during the two terms of Mr. Rouhani's presidency, not even one council meeting, despite the fact that the organizations had an internal program of their own, this was influential in the space industry.
By 2024, that serious determination has been formed by the rulers; The new program approved by the Supreme Space Council is the same program that the previous actors of the space industry were doing, and nothing strange has happened in the body of the space industry, and we could have had this program before.
If there is a problem in formulating or implementing space programs, there is no serious difference between the previous government and this government, because the actors of the space industry are the same body, but the difference is in the will of the superiors and rulers in different periods of governments. The volatility of the private sector is much lower than the public sector, and its influence is relatively less than the public sector, and the more private an executive body is, the less vulnerable it is to these upstream government changes.
Remote sensing, telecommunications and positioning are the three main missions that are higher than other missions in the space field. There are other missions, including traveling to other planets, for example, traveling to the moon or traveling to Mars, which are not the space priority of Iran today. There is a risk that sometimes a headline will be created in the country's space programs, which will not really create serious added value for the country, while also costing the country a lot. In the exploratory programs in other countries, it is mainly "international", for example, in the Artemis project, the United States is trying hard to involve other countries in this project to finance its costs from others, and one of the best ways to finance The cost is receiving money from the rich countries of the region.
Iran does not look at a series of missions that are very ambitious and have been added to the basket of regional countries as a danger. Of course, it is possible that in the missions of travel to other worlds and space explorations that some countries in the region are looking for, side missions of the space industry will also grow, which can be a serious alarm for Iran that would be given special attention.
Science & Technology Budget Three Year Fiscal Planning Cycle
C. P. Vick March 25, - May 28, 2010
Iran's science and technology budget is based on a three year fiscal planning cycle. Iran planned to launch two more research and development “Safir” boosters into space to finish its development before attempting to launch the Omid [Hope] scientific satellite in the summer of 2008, according to its president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The defense minister Mostafa Mohammad Najjar said in a speech on February 4, 2008 during the inauguration of the new Iranian Space launch Center located in Semnan province. The space industry infrastructure located in the the Zelzal (earthquake), Shahid Hemmat Industrial group R&D missile & space industry infrastructure near Hamasin a suburb of Tehran in the Tehran province.
He indicated that the Omid [Hope] satellite would be launched during the next Khordad-87 between May 21 and June 22, 2008 or during the following Khordad during the year 2008 which started March 20, 2008 for the Iranian Islamic calendar. Completing the ten year research and development Omid [Hope] satellite project with its successful orbiting in 2008 was mandated to be completed before March 20, 2009. It was to be placed in a high inclination orbit (perhaps 62-64 degrees) with a 650 kilometer circular obit altitude passing over Iran six times daily.
In fact, Omid, a small communications satellite, was launched by Iran on a Safir 2 rocket on 02 February 2009 at 18:34 UT. The box shaped satellite had many external antennas’ on its outer surfaces that are covered with a thermal insulation blanket. There were no obvious solar arrays on the outer shell indicating battery powered a short life satellite. It contained many black box instruments giving it a mass in the 40-100 kilogram range as expected.
Russia and Iran reportedly signed a secret deal on wide cooperation in space exploration, ranging from training Iranian cosmonauts in Russia to possible production of Earth observation and telecommunication satellites for Iran. The alleged deal was boosted by the West's sanctions targeting Russia in retaliation for its position on the Ukrainian crisis, Russian newspaper Izvestia reported in May 2014.
“A protocol on cooperation was signed on April 10 in Tehran after the fifth session of a Russian-Iranian work group on space cooperation,” the newspaper cites a source in Roscosmos, Russia's national space agency.
The satellite part of the agreement is of greatest interest for Tehran. Russia pledged to provide sample images of earth gathered by its Resurs-DK and Resurs-P satellites, which allow taking photos with resolution up to 70 cm per pixel, Izvestia said citing the text of the protocol it obtained. Iranians plan to build domestic communication stations capable of receiving information from the Russian constellation of satellites.
“Russia has assured the Iranian side that there is no insurmountable obstacle to the delivery of receiver stations to get satellite information from the Russian earth observation satellites to communication centers located in foreign nations,” the protocol reportedly says. Moscow may further create and launch reconnaissance satellites under a contract with Iran. Another contract may be negotiated with Iran for a telecommunication satellite, which would be launched to a Geo-synchronous orbit by Russia.
Finally, Russia may provide its facilities and expertise to help Iran with its manned space exploration program. “The Iranian side is preparing a request for training of cosmonauts, to which the Russian side will respond with an offer in a matter of a month,” the document reportedly said.
Ironically, if Russia did train Iranians to go to space, it would be done at the same site where NASA astronauts are trained before taking a trip to the International Space Station in a Russian Soyuz spacecraft, the newspaper notes. Putting Iranians and Americans with access to sensitive information in the same room could be a security challenge.
The space deal came just as the US decided to downgrade its relations with Russia in all spheres, including space exploration as part of its wider sanction effort. For instance, now Russian space companies cannot buy American electronic components, which were previously used in some Russian satellites. Iran getting access to earth observation satellites, which have both civilian and military applications, is bound to be opposed by Israel and Saudi Arabia, both regional opponents of Iran and close allies of the US.
The prospect of Russian-Iranian space cooperation may be used by Moscow as a bargaining chip in negotiations with the US, believes space expert Ivan Moiseev. “In early 1990s we agreed not to sell to India rocket technologies. We made an engine for them instead, trained their specialists. The Americans in return allowed their satellites to be launched from our cosmodromes. Soon Proton rockets became one of world's most used vehicles,” he told the newspaper.
Dmitry Paison, science director at Skolkovo's space cluster, said the deal as it is does not pose a significant threat to American interests. “In the protocol signed with the Iranian space agency I don't see any critical technology transfers. High-energy engines could be critical. Or atmosphere re-entry technologies. If those technologies were at the table, cooperation with Iran would be much more provocative,” he explained.
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