TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - Iran
launched a research rocket Monday and unveiled its first major space center
that will be used to launch research satellites, state-run television reported.
The report said the rocket,
which is capable of carrying a satellite, was the first launched by Iran "into
space," but analysts have expressed doubts about similar technological
achievements announced by the country in the past. Iran launched
its first domestically built rocket last February, which soared to the edge
of space but did not reach orbit level.
"The
first Iranian rocket Explorer-1 was fired into space," state-run television
reported Monday.
Space is considered to
begin at 100 kilometers (60 miles) above the earth. Ham radio satellites - the
lowest flying satellites - orbit between 160-500 kilometers (100-300 miles),
while communication, weather and global-positioning satellites fly between
400-20,000 kilometers (250-12,000 miles) up.
Monday's report did not
specify the altitude reached by the research rocket, but state TV showed live
images of the launch from the space center, with President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
issuing the launch order.
Some Western experts have
raised the possibility that Iran's space program may be a cover to more fully
develop its military ballistic missiles, a prospect many find troubling at a
time when the U.S. and others fear Tehran is trying to develop nuclear weapons
- a claim Iran denies.
"With the launch, Iran has
joined the world's top 11 countries possessing space technology to build
satellites and launch rockets into space,'' the television said.
Before the launch,
Ahmadinejad opened Iran's first major space center, which includes an underground
control station and space launch pad, according to state TV.
"We need to have an active
and influential presence in space," Ahmadinejad said at the inauguration
ceremony.
Ahmadinejad also unveiled
the country's first domestically built satellite, called Omid, or Hope.
State TV said the satellite
took ten years to build, and the official news agency IRNA reported that it
would be launched into orbit sometime in roughly the next twelve months.
"The research rocket is
part of preparations for the launch of a satellite into orbit," said IRNA.
Iranian officials have
suggested that the rocket launched last February's was a "sounding rocket,"
built to soar to a maximum altitude of (150 kilometers) 93 miles and used to
conduct high-altitude measurements and testing. It was not immediately clear if
the rocket launched Monday was identical.
In 2005, Iran launched its
first commercial satellite on a Russian rocket, in a joint project with Moscow,
which appears to be the main partner in transferring space technology to Iran.
Iranian officials have said
the country wants to launch a satellite on an indigenous rocket and indicated
they are developing a Shahab-4 missile to do that. Iran's powerful ballistic
missile, the Shahab-3, is believed to have a range of at least 1,300 kilometers
(800 miles), putting Israel and much of the Middle East in range. In November,
Iran said it had manufactured a new missile, the Ashoura, with a range of 2,000
kilometers (1,200 miles), capable of reaching U.S. bases in the Mideast.
Iran hopes to launch four
more satellites by 2010, the government has said, to increase the number of
land and mobile telephone lines to 80 million from 22 million. It also hopes to
expand its satellite capabilities to increase Internet users to 35 million from
5.5 million.
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