The recent Iranian flight test of a space launch vehicle capable of placing small satellites into orbit is renewing concerns that the vehicle is also intended to test intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) capabilities.
Iran says that the Aug. 17 night launch of the Safir (Messenger) booster was a success, although that claim is still being assessed by U.S. and European intelligence organizations. Iran said at first that the booster had placed a small payload in orbit but then amended that statement to say that only the launcher had been tested.
If the test was indeed a complete success, the third-stage solid rocket booster may well have reached orbital velocity and altitude, becoming an Earth-orbiting satellite, although not in the traditional sense.
Aviation Week & Space Technology magazine first reported on the Iranian space launch program and its ties to ICBM development in January 2007.
Gordon Johndroe, a spokesman for the U.S. National Security Council, confirmed the test, saying "The Iranian development and testing of rockets is troubling and raises further questions about Iranian intentions.
"This action and dual use possibilities for their ballistic missile program have been a subject of International Atomic Energy Agency discussions and are inconsistent with their U.N. Security Council obligations," Johndroe said.
Intelligence analysts believe Iran received help from North Korea in developing the vehicle. GlobalSecurity.org, a security think tank, has reported that the Safir launcher resembles an upgraded version of the North Korean Taepo-Dong launcher, which failed during a satellite launch attempt several years ago, sending its upper stage over Japan.
Iran showed the roughly 75-foot tall white booster on its pad with a clean room rotated back from its green nose shroud, as if a satellite was being prepared for launch. With the test, Iran says it is now ready to launch an operational engineering satellite.
The head of Iran's aerospace agency, Reza Taghipour, says Iran now also wants to help other Muslim countries launch satellites. "I am announcing now that Iran is ready to launch satellites of friendly Islamic countries into space," Taghipour told Iranian television.
Detail of map of Iran showing tracking and missile-launch sites: Scott Marshall/Aviation Week & Space Technology
===
"The Iranians did not successfully launch the rocket," a senior U.S. defense official told CNN Monday.
The two-stage rocket could have been capable of launching a satellite into space, but the U.S. intelligence assessment shows that the second stage "was erratic and out of control," said the official, who declined to be identified because of the sensitivity of the intelligence.
The rocket "did not perform as designed," the official said.
Another U.S. defense official who also asked not to be named said the most immediate monitoring of the Iranian test came from the USS Russell in the Persian Gulf using its radar.
