Pentagon: Iran's Domestic Satellite Launch Is Grave Cause for Concern

Iran's launch of its first satellite into space is a grave cause for concern, the Pentagon said Tuesday.

Quote:Iran's launch of its first satellite into space is a grave cause for concern to the U.S. as the Islamic Republic continues to work toward developing long-range missile capability, the Pentagon and White House said Tuesday.

Tuesday's launch of its first domestically made satellite "does not convince us that Iran is acting responsibly to advance stability or security in the region," said White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs.

Gibbs said any effort to develop missile delivery capability, continue an illicit nuclear program, threaten Israel and sponsor terror is an "acute concern to this administration."

"It is certainly a reason for us to be concerned about Iran and its continued attempts to develop a ballistic missile program of increasingly long range," Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell told reporters Tuesday.

"They (Iran) pose a real threat and it is a growing threat," he said.

Iran sent its first domestically made satellite into orbit, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announced Tuesday -- claiming a significant step in an ambitious space program that has worried many international observers.

The satellite -- called Omid or "Hope" in Farsi -- was launched late Monday on the 30th anniversary of the 1979 Islamic revolution.

The launch came one day before Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met with foreign ministers to discuss Iran's nuclear ambitions. She announced that senior U.S. diplomat William Burns will join officials from other major powers in Germany Wednesday to map out a strategy for thwarting Iran's nuclear ambitions.

Clinton said Tuesday that the U.S. must adopt policies that show an openness to dialogue and diplomacy, but said it is imperative that Iran act similarly.

"We are reaching out a hand, but the fist has to unclench," Clinton said at a news briefing with Britain's Foreign Secretary David Miliband, repeating a line from Obama's inauguration speech.

Miliband called the Obama administration's willingness to talk to Iran a "new dimension" in international efforts to end Tehran's nuclear ambitions.

"Anything which adds to the international tension should be of concern," he said.

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier also expressed concern over the launch, saying that the reports -- if confirmed -- are an alarming development and an unsettling sign of Iran's progress in transport technology.

"That's why we must, with the new U.S. administration, intensify our efforts in the six-state group to dissuade Iran from the development of a militarily serviceable nuclear program," Steinmeier said.

Earlier Tuesday, state Department spokesman Robert Wood also called the development notable and cause for "grave" concern.

"Developing a space launch vehicle that could be -- could put a satellite into orbit could possibly lead to development of a ballistic missile system," he said during a State Department briefing Tuesday.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/02/...e-concern/

Payload weights about 60 pounds. Interesting thing is the orbital inclination is 55.5 degrees---the same for US GPS Satellites. This flight looks like an R&D test on staging, flight dynamics and navigation systems.

The small Omid communications satellite was launched Monday evening aboard a Safir 2 rocket, the Fars news agency reported.

Two objects from the launch, likely the Omid satellite and part of its booster, are circling Earth in oval-shaped orbits.

The orbits range in altitude from low points of 153 miles to high points of 235 miles and 273 miles. The orbital inclination is 55.5 degrees, according to U.S. military tracking data.

Iran joins a small group of countries with the ability to build and launch their own satellites into orbit.

Iran is the first new space-faring nation since Israel joined the club in 1988.

The launch was timed to occur during a 10-day celebration of the 30th anniversary of Iran's Islamic revolution, according to the Fars news agency.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad ordered Monday's launch and said the satellite was a "step toward justice and peace," according to state television reports.

Iran constructed Omid and planned the launch under strict U.N. economic sanctions due to international suspicions of Iran's nuclear ambitions.

The sanctions affect the international trade of goods that could be used on military projects, including programs related to satellite and rocket development.

Iran orbited its first satellite in 2005 on a Russian rocket, but Monday's launch was the country's first to use a homemade rocket launched from Iranian territory.

Omid, which means hope in Persian, carries experimental control systems, communications equipment, and a small remote sensing payload, Iranian news reports said.

Previous versions of the Safir rocket have completed several suborbital tests, including a mysterious flight last August that some believe may have been a failed satellite launch attempt.

http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/sfn...aunch.html

I mean I'm all against terrorism and everything, but if we can launch satellites why cant they? Must we keep these people in the stone age? I mean if they are really doing this to launch a long range missle, as soon as the first one took flight Iran would be turned into glass.

(02-03-2009 08:31 PM)ETSUfan1 Wrote:  Must we keep these people in the stone age?

I don't think we're keeping them in the stone age, I think the hard liners like it that way.

(02-03-2009 08:31 PM)ETSUfan1 Wrote:  I mean I'm all against terrorism and everything, but if we can launch satellites why cant they? Must we keep these people in the stone age? I mean if they are really doing this to launch a long range missle, as soon as the first one took flight Iran would be turned into glass.

True. But with the basis of the world economy resting on Persian Gulf oil, we don't missiles flying in the first place.

Ballistic missiles + Nuclear Warheads + Radical Islamic Theocracy = Bad News.

It only takes one nuclear warhead detonating to turn a nuclear war "on"...and we don't yet know what (if anything could) it takes to turn one "off".

Read the "Hidden Imam" garbage that the Ayatollahs subscribe to. I honestly think they have a "death wish" which once prevoked will take the West down with them.

(02-03-2009 08:29 PM)WMD Owl Wrote:  Two objects from the launch, likely the Omid satellite and part of its booster, are circling Earth in oval-shaped orbits.

The real cause for concern will come when the manage the dreaded "square-shaped" orbit ...

(02-03-2009 08:31 PM)ETSUfan1 Wrote:  Must we keep these people in the stone age?

I think that would be preferable (at least their government, not the people). When they have spy satellites and are able to supply intelligence to friendly or like-minded organizations (Hamas, Hezbollah, al Qaeda, Chavez, North Korea, and the like) then that is a real game changer, not to mention the ability to launch or threaten ballistic missile launch to anywhere in the world. This looks like the Bush administration got the intelligence right on this missile technology, in regards to the defensive shield in Europe.

(02-04-2009 08:54 AM)I45owl Wrote:  I think that would be preferable (at least their government, not the people). When they have spy satellites and are able to supply intelligence to friendly or like-minded organizations (Hamas, Hezbollah, al Qaeda, Chavez, North Korea, and the like) then that is a real game changer, not to mention the ability to launch or threaten ballistic missile launch to anywhere in the world. This looks like the Bush administration got the intelligence right on this missile technology, in regards to the defensive shield in Europe.

Google Earth (while not real time) and some of the commerical photosats (3 day turnaround) give you good enough imagery to plan an attack with.

Unlike locations in the United States which are "blurred" you can get untouched photos of sensitive locations in the Middle East. I just pulled up imagery of Balad Airbase in Iraq.

(02-03-2009 08:31 PM)ETSUfan1 Wrote:  I mean I'm all against terrorism and everything, but if we can launch satellites why cant they?

I agree. Of course there is concern, but you keep that private. Better PR and winning good will is to congratulate these people. Oh, and being sincere about this wouldn't be a bad course either.

(02-04-2009 09:27 AM)DrTorch Wrote:  

(02-03-2009 08:31 PM)ETSUfan1 Wrote:  I mean I'm all against terrorism and everything, but if we can launch satellites why cant they?

I agree. Of course there is concern, but you keep that private. Better PR and winning good will is to congratulate these people. Oh, and being sincere about this wouldn't be a bad course either.

From the data I've seen, its not much of a payload. Its only 60 pounds, and they do not have microsat technology.

This was just a missile test camouflaged with a radio transmitter launched into orbit to go "beep beep beep" so they can claim it has "peaceful purposes" so the UN won't enact tighter sanctions on the Iranian ballistic missile program.

(02-04-2009 09:53 AM)WMD Owl Wrote:  

(02-04-2009 09:27 AM)DrTorch Wrote:  

(02-03-2009 08:31 PM)ETSUfan1 Wrote:  I mean I'm all against terrorism and everything, but if we can launch satellites why cant they?

I agree. Of course there is concern, but you keep that private. Better PR and winning good will is to congratulate these people. Oh, and being sincere about this wouldn't be a bad course either.

From the data I've seen, its not much of a payload. Its only 60 pounds, and they do not have microsat technology.

This was just a missile test camouflaged with a radio transmitter launched into orbit to go "beep beep beep" so they can claim it has "peaceful purposes" so the UN won't enact tighter sanctions on the Iranian ballistic missile program.

Nevertheless, there is a certain discretion in what you say publically vs privately. Especially coming from the Pentagon. And that's a big part of national security as well.

(02-04-2009 09:53 AM)WMD Owl Wrote:  

(02-04-2009 09:27 AM)DrTorch Wrote:  

(02-03-2009 08:31 PM)ETSUfan1 Wrote:  I mean I'm all against terrorism and everything, but if we can launch satellites why cant they?

I agree. Of course there is concern, but you keep that private. Better PR and winning good will is to congratulate these people. Oh, and being sincere about this wouldn't be a bad course either.

From the data I've seen, its not much of a payload. Its only 60 pounds, and they do not have microsat technology.

This was just a missile test camouflaged with a radio transmitter launched into orbit to go "beep beep beep" so they can claim it has "peaceful purposes" so the UN won't enact tighter sanctions on the Iranian ballistic missile program.

Regardless, sending rockets into space to deploy a satellite is not back-yard technology. There is certainly a skill set needed within the Iranian space and missle program to make this launch possible.

(02-04-2009 09:22 AM)WMD Owl Wrote:  

(02-04-2009 08:54 AM)I45owl Wrote:  I think that would be preferable (at least their government, not the people). When they have spy satellites and are able to supply intelligence to friendly or like-minded organizations (Hamas, Hezbollah, al Qaeda, Chavez, North Korea, and the like) then that is a real game changer, not to mention the ability to launch or threaten ballistic missile launch to anywhere in the world. This looks like the Bush administration got the intelligence right on this missile technology, in regards to the defensive shield in Europe.

Google Earth (while not real time) and some of the commerical photosats (3 day turnaround) give you good enough imagery to plan an attack with.

Unlike locations in the United States which are "blurred" you can get untouched photos of sensitive locations in the Middle East. I just pulled up imagery of Balad Airbase in Iraq.

Google Earth doesn't give that kind of turnaround, does it? It's weird enough that I can pull up a picture of the sister of one of the girls on our soccer team on google maps (they blur these on request, though).

There seems to be a gulf of intelligence between some of the commercial images and having the ability to present a picture of troops that's 90 minutes out of date. I can't imagine that it's that far out of their capabilities to have a reconnaissance satellite in orbit within 2-3 years if they are able to have the launch platform and the ability to produce nuclear weapons.

What are the implications of Hamas and Hezbollah having real-time or near-real-time information on troop movements, much less the Sadrists.

And people didn't think we should put the missile shield in Poland.

(02-04-2009 11:51 AM)I45owl Wrote:  

(02-04-2009 09:22 AM)WMD Owl Wrote:  

(02-04-2009 08:54 AM)I45owl Wrote:  I think that would be preferable (at least their government, not the people). When they have spy satellites and are able to supply intelligence to friendly or like-minded organizations (Hamas, Hezbollah, al Qaeda, Chavez, North Korea, and the like) then that is a real game changer, not to mention the ability to launch or threaten ballistic missile launch to anywhere in the world. This looks like the Bush administration got the intelligence right on this missile technology, in regards to the defensive shield in Europe.

Google Earth (while not real time) and some of the commerical photosats (3 day turnaround) give you good enough imagery to plan an attack with.

Unlike locations in the United States which are "blurred" you can get untouched photos of sensitive locations in the Middle East. I just pulled up imagery of Balad Airbase in Iraq.

Google Earth doesn't give that kind of turnaround, does it? It's weird enough that I can pull up a picture of the sister of one of the girls on our soccer team on google maps (they blur these on request, though).

There seems to be a gulf of intelligence between some of the commercial images and having the ability to present a picture of troops that's 90 minutes out of date. I can't imagine that it's that far out of their capabilities to have a reconnaissance satellite in orbit within 2-3 years if they are able to have the launch platform and the ability to produce nuclear weapons.

What are the implications of Hamas and Hezbollah having real-time or near-real-time information on troop movements, much less the Sadrists.

"Near real time" isn't exactly accurate. Google Earth isn't a "real time" source. Ikonos (Sat Imaging Corp.) will give you a 50 square kilometer shot at .8 meters resolution for about $400.00 on a 4 day turnaround.

Its great for fixed targets. You want to see the trenches, fences, etc guard positions, number of tanks, around a particular target --it is great.

If you want to see what is tied up at a dock at Little Creek,--its not very effective because it could have easily moved in the time period.

There is nothing to keep Terrorist Orgnaizations from ordering this data. However, I have a feeling if someone called up Space Imaging Corp and ordered photo sat shots of an Israeli port, then the identity of the requesting party would be passed on to the Mossad.

But you are right. it is dangerous. and I don't want them to have access to it.