President Ahmadinejad of Iran announced today that "The first Iranian rocket Explorer-1 was fired into space," and "With the launch, Iran has joined the world's top 11 countries possessing space technology to build satellites, and launch rockets into space." Iran's new space center includes a launch pad and underground control station.
This is an important and relevant event in the argument for the importance of American space dominance. Contact your legislators and the presidential candidates and tell them that they need to respond with more support (funding, laws, etc.) to ensure that Iran does not gain offensive capabilities greater than our ability to defend them.
Update: More analysis can be found here.
Monday, February 4, 2008
Iran Launches Rocket, Space Center
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
It is ironic, and a little spooky that Iran has named their first rocket the same as we called our first, 50 years earlier... "Explorer 1" seems popular.
Yet it is something to be aware of, and concerned with. China has already proven its ability to target and destroy (and created 150k orbital debris) objects in space.
The thought of a space battle ground chills me to my core. The United States is truly vulnerable, and we have the most to lose. If we lose our Sats, we lose our ability to coordinate our armies (and our direct tv...)
Hopefully our political leadership will see these concerns, and act on them.
Take care. mjl
Hmm, somebody's sources seem to be false. The name of the as-yet-unlaunched satellite. It will go up in May or June. It's name is "Hope", which I think is a terrific name.
http://www.spacewar.com/reports/Iran_Iran_Tests_Sounding_Rocket_And_Unveils_First_Homemade_Satellite_999.html
Take care. mjl
Post a Comment