Celestia Forums

All the political crap put aside -


It appears Iran has launched its second communications satellite as of today, called the Safir-313.

I've checked NASA's J-Track utility to see if it was listed, but all that's shown is Iran's Safir 2 communications satellite (currently in orbit).

I was hoping there would be more information about this, especially within the space-sciences community. I am surprised this is not the case, moreso that I have to rely on the likes of USA Today for such news.

Sorry I don't know either, but I would suspect that there's a lot going on behind the scenes(i.e. governments, military, etc.) anytime a satellite is launched by anyone! That is, enough going on to possibly complicate the flow of released or posted information (more than necessary). Just my opinion, but I'm sure it will be listed sooner than later.

In trying to do a little follow-up on this, I have not found very much as far as news. Wikipedia had an interesting quote though...

"Iran is known to have developed a satellite launch vehicle of the Shahab family quite similar with the DPRK's Taepodong 2 named IRIS. On February 25, 2007, the Iranian state-run television has announced that a rocket, carrying unspecified cargo created by the ministries of science and defence, was successfully launched.[1] Later reports stated that the rocket was not intended for the orbital flight, being a sounding rocket. After reaching the altitude of about 150 kilometers, it was designed to descend back to Earth using a parachute. The US Military has doubts about this launch since it was claimed not to have been detected by NORAD.[2]"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iranian_Space_Agency

...I suppose this is why there has been nothing further in the news?

Also, Wikipedia posts a link to the Iran Space Agency website (http://isa.ir/en/rs/), but when I tried to view the site I got an error-404 page not found message. Oh well. Let's see what manner of woe my curiosity brings me for this act (lol).

Well, in still keeping all politics aside, I'm amazed that Iran would have any real interest in launching a satellite for any legitimate scientific or communication purpose. Neighboring buddies would help them there

Conflicting reports for launches or ground activity....well, the general media and info sources will usually not be relaible, and perhaps for good reason. Maybe we'll hear more soon.