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Iran satellite launch, which U.S. warned against, fails

Last launch of Simorgh SLV was July 2017 (18 months ago), it had no payload and the second stage failed. This launch carried a 100kg satellite and the first and second stage worked (i.e. they fixed the problem with the second stage), only the third stage didn't work fully.

This was the first launch of Simorgh was a satellite payload and it looks like 2/3 stages worked perfectly! For only the second orbital launch of Simorgh SLV (and first with a payload) I think that's quite good.

Next launch of Simorgh SLV (hopefully with another 100kg satellite) is scheduled for August 2019. If that succeeds then Iran will have successful SLV with ability to send 100kg payload into LEO with totally indigenous technologies!

Simorgh is also capable of 350kg payloads, so within 2-4 years we should see bigger payloads using Simorgh, and that does not even include the planned Sarir SLV.

Resolution of Iranian satellites is also making big progress, Payam satellite (the one that failed) had a resolution of 45m. Pars-1 (Soha) satellite is already completed with 15m resolution sensor and Pars-2 and Pars-3 (with 2m resolution) are planned for the coming years.

To compare: Omid satellite sent into LEO in 2009 was 30kg and had image resolution of 500-1000m, so if we can send Payam-2 to LEO in 2019 that is progress of 30kg-->100kg and 1000m-->45m resolution in 10 years. That is not even fully accurate because we had such abilities for a long time, only lacked the political will and funds to actually do the test launches! Hopefully if this fixes we can have more launches and this progress will become faster and in 10 years who knows where we will be!

India started their SLV programme in 1979 and didn't send a 100kg satellite into LEO until 1994 (and that was with a lot of US help). Also, India had 3 consecutive failed launches until the 4th attempt succeeded! In 1979 we had nothing, we didn't even have a Space Agency until 2004! At peak Iran's budget for space agency was around $80 million, now it around $8 million! For such a low budget it is a miracle they can even maintain the space centre let alone launch huge SLVs like safir with 100kg satellites!

How many countries have fully indigenous technology to do this all by themselves, especially while brutal sanctions aim to topple their country?

Before 1970s Iran was extremely poor and under-developed, then from 70s the shah laid the framework for societal development but the focus was on economy not self sufficient military (or self sufficient anything). Then Saddam invaded Iran in 1980 and Iran was engaged in a brutal and expensive war until 1988, then Iran had to rebuild the economy and country whilst under US sanctions, and only since 1990s did Iran really start self sufficiency programs, from basic things like mines to guns and now to tanks and radars and SLVs.

The progress hasn't been as fast as we would like but even with sanctions in 10-15 years it is very reasonable that Iran can have a fully indigenous GEOINT capability!

@skyshadow @Tokhme khar @Hack-Hook please let me know if I made any mistakes in what I wrote!

Thanks for the points that you noted. we had ( 10 m ) resolution nearly ten years ago with sharif satellite.

ماهواره شريف ست قرار است در مدار ژئو و در ارتفاع 350 تا 500 كيلومتري از زمين قرار گيرد و تصاويري با دقت 10 متر را تهيه و به ايستگاه زميني ارسال كند.

https://www.yjc.ir/fa/news/4649242/از-ماهواره-شريف-ست-چه-مي‌دانيد
 
Thanks for the points that you noted. we had ( 10 m ) resolution nearly ten years ago with sharif satellite.

ماهواره شريف ست قرار است در مدار ژئو و در ارتفاع 350 تا 500 كيلومتري از زمين قرار گيرد و تصاويري با دقت 10 متر را تهيه و به ايستگاه زميني ارسال كند.

https://www.yjc.ir/fa/news/4649242/از-ماهواره-شريف-ست-چه-مي‌دانيد
thanks for the link, but i also read that pars-1 they competed with 15m resolution and are planning pars-3 (with 2-4m resolution) by 1404

seems disappointing that it will take so long to get 2m resolution when really we need <1m resolution, i'm not sure there is a point sending a satellite into space for GEOINT without <1m resolution... i guess these components are very advanced and hard to get (Turkey bought a satellite from someone else with <1m resolution and israel made a complaint because they provided the components to that i think italian company and asked the company to make share the satellite couldnt be used against israel...)
 
thanks for the link, but i also read that pars-1 they competed with 15m resolution and are planning pars-3 (with 2-4m resolution) by 1404

seems disappointing that it will take so long to get 2m resolution when really we need <1m resolution, i'm not sure there is a point sending a satellite into space for GEOINT without <1m resolution... i guess these components are very advanced and hard to get (Turkey bought a satellite from someone else with <1m resolution and israel made a complaint because they provided the components to that i think italian company and asked the company to make share the satellite couldnt be used against israel...)

we have sharif- 2 with ( 5 m ) resolution from 1392. مطمن باش اگه روحانی بره و یکی مثل احمدی نژاد بیاد که روی برنامه موشکی و فضایی محکم باشه خیلی پیشرفت خواهیم کرد این حرفاییم که اروپا و امریکا میزنن برای موشک قارهپیما مطمن باش اگر چند سال سازمان هوا و فضا ایران فعال باشه و مرتب ماهواره ارسال کنه اونا دیگه صداشون در نمیاد و صنعت فضایمونو به رسمیت خواهند شناخت
 
This is how iran should do it

Hello, Isro, got a rocket? Yes, lift-off in 72 hours

Launch-on-demand service for small satellites from this year

G.S. Mudur

19.01.19

India’s space agency will introduce this year a launch-on-demand service for small satellites through a new rocket that could be prepared for flight within 72 hours, senior space officials said on Friday.

The Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV) is intended to ferry small satellites, including student-built space science payloads, weighing up to 500kg, senior Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) officials said.

But space technology and strategic affairs specialists said the SSLV could also enhance India’s capabilities for rapid surveillance if required for security or disaster management applications.

The SSLV will be an addition to Isro’s stable of workhorse rockets — the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle and the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle that can carry of up to 4,000kg of payloads. The SSLV’s first flight is scheduled for July 2019, the officials said.

“It (the SSLV) will be the country’s smallest and most economical launch vehicle,” said Isro chairman Kailasavadivoo Sivan. Isro hopes to increase its frequency of launching small satellites — whether for commercial customers or academic institutions — through the SSLV.

“Students could focus only on the payloads — their payloads would be plugged into SSLV and launched,” Sivan said, outlining an ongoing Isro outreach programme that seeks to expand its collaboration with academic institutions within and outside the country.

But space technology analysts say the SSLV will augment rapid surveillance capabilities.

“A launch-on-demand service would add to our existing space-based remote-sensing assets — what might be called a bespoke surveillance capability — tailored to specific military or civilian requirement as it arises,” said V. Siddhartha, a space and defence research expert with experience in both departments.

“Small surveillance satellites could be launched quickly for monitoring short-armed conflicts if assessed as imminent, along borders, or for quick assessment of the extent and magnitude of natural disasters that the National Disaster Management Authority is responding to,” Siddhartha told The Telegraph.

But analysts also caution that India will need to enhance in parallel its capabilities to build such on-demand surveillance satellites.

“A launch-on-demand service would of course be good, but we have to have the ability to manufacture satellites in response to demands,” said Rajeswari Rajagopalan, the head of the nuclear and space policy initiative at the non-government Observer Research Foundation.

“If Isro has some capacity deficit, then it would need to work with industry players and help develop an ecosystem where the industry could help address the deficits,” she told this correspondent.

Space officials said Isro also planned to conduct this year its first-ever automatic landing test of a proposed reusable launch vehicle (RLV), a craft designed to deliver payloads into low-Earth orbit and return to land on a runway as the American Space Shuttle did.

In the RLV landing test, a helicopter would hoist and release the RLV at an altitude of about 3km from where the craft would land on its own, guided by onboard computers. “The test will evaluate automatic navigation, steering, landing gear, alignment to the runway and touchdown,” a senior space official said.

“The RLV is expected to reduce the cost of access to space,” R. Umamaheswaran, Isro scientific secretary said. “No one has a full-fledged RLV today. It is a futuristic vehicle — we’re about 20 per cent towards the RLV goal.”

Sivan, outlining Isro’s upcoming missions in 2019, said the Chandrayaan-2 lunar lander mission was expected to be launched between March 25 and April 30. Chandrayaan-2 — a follow-up to the first lunar orbiter mission a decade ago — will land on the Moon with a lunar rover.

Senior officials said Isro also planned to launch by October this year GSAT20, a telecommunications satellite, to provide 100 Gbps broadband connectivity and a satellite each for microwave remote sensing and advanced geographic imaging.

https://www.telegraphindia.com/science/hello-isro-got-a-rocket-yes-lift-off-in-72-hours/cid/1682175
 
BTW...
Officials said the rocket engine stopped working just 30 seconds earlier than expected and could not provide the propulsion needed to put the satellite in the original circuit (geo-circuit), so our scientists actually are only 30 seconds away from success. And that's why the operation is successful.
 
a few minute i guess :undecided:
for Simorgh first-stage around probably less than 120 second , you see the faster the burning time the better as the rocket haul less fuel to orbit (means a smaller rocket can go to higher orbits) and sooner you can separate First stage (the lion share of SLV weight) and second stage also around 1 minutes .
this burn time vary depended on the fuel type.
Simergh uses UMDH/Irfna north korea used Krosone/Irfna for UNHA slv and their burning time was 120/110/240 second for the three stage of the missile
as I understand this launch failed not because of the failure of Upper Stage , but because the second stage somehow prematurely turned itself off.
 
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