Iran increased its presence in space on Wednesday with the successful launch of
a new satellite.
Israel is concerned that Tehran’s space program is cover
for the development of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) that could
carry nuclear warheads.
RELATED: Russia to Iran: Cooperate with IAEA on nuclear program Iran accuses West, Israel's allies, of meddling in SyriaThe Islamic Republic’s Arabic language Al- Alam
television channel reported that a satellite called Rasad 1, “observation” in
Farsi, was launched aboard an improved satellite launch vehicle and will be used
for transmitting images and weather forecasts.
The Rasad 1 is the second
satellite Iran has launched into space. In February 2009, Iran launched the Omid
satellite, “hope” in Farsi,and is in the midst of an ambitious space program with plans to launch a larger
satellite from a new launch vehicle called Simorgh in the coming
year.
Israel closely tracked the missile launch with various sensors,
including the X-Band radar that the US stationed in the Negev in late
2008.
Tal Inbar, head of the Space Research Center at the Fisher Brothers
Institute for Air and Space Studies in Herzliya, raised the possibility that
Tehran’s space program was a cover to develop military-grade ballistic missiles
but said the satellite itself did not have a real military
application.
“Rasad 1 is an Iranian observation satellite with resolution
of about 150 meters and no real military importance,” Inbar said. “It is,
however, a remote-sensing satellite and for the Iranians this has declarative
importance since they can say that they were able to put an imaging satellite in
space.”
Reuters contributed to the report.