The Orbiting Dream

The news was a real surprise: Iran launched a rocket to space to add yet another surprising stride to the basket of its advanced science collection. After active stem cell research and a really noisy nuclear program, I guess we shall now be happy about having something up there rotating! Oh we already had an Iranian lady who became the first woman space tourist. I remember when I was a graduate student, I spent some time as an intern in a government-owned agency in Tehran and our job was to analyze satellite images for environmental and meteorological studies. Many of these satellite were and still are out there with their images publicly available for purchase. That was well before the age of GoogleEarth and what we were doing was very classy and Hi-Tech. This agency later got transformed and merged into Iranian Space Agency. I remember seeing a couple of graduate students of IT and Telecom in one of the rooms spending a multi-million dollar grant to design a communication satellite together with the Chinese :)

When the agency started before the revolution, we were the big friend of the Americans and were the first in the region into which US started transferring space imaging technology. Near Tehran there was a huge imaging factory with a monster satellite receiver. The receiver had the serial number ending to 001, the first of its kind to be built for the purpose of receiving images from a new earth observing satellite for civilian applications. The station soon hibernated after the revolution. And now we sent a rocket!. I would be happy though if we really could have achieved the domestic potential to carry something that far but I hope it is really true and not like another thing bought from the Russians and the Chinese. Russia is practically sweeping its soviet warehouses to sell to Iran and China with its garbage quality exports, cheap labor and the VETO power has been busy waving its spider web for the Iranian cash.

Comments

[Georg Hausherr]

Bonjour Mr. Behi,

During the Shah-time, Iran was well on its way to become a modern country. After the clergy revolution it looked for some time that Iran returned to the Middle Ages.

Now it seems Iran is on its way to achieve modernity the Chinese way: do what you like, get rich if you can but don't meddle with politics that's unhealthy for you (unless you are a true believer of the ruling religion and hold an official job).

Georg

PS:I only hope the goods you are
manufacturing are of better quality
than those made by the Chinese.

[Mr. Bridge]

It would be great to see Iranian engineers, entrepreneurs and investors get involved with some of the private space enterprises like Virgin Galactic, Bigelow Aerospace and other forward-leaning visions that don't depend on government funding for its existence.

[Moly]

Well, They pay money to Russia and other countries to build up their nuclear plant while they have so many problems inside the countries..
you know what.. it has nothing to do with our country but Islam..
they do anything for Islam, but nothing for our country..