Iran builds new space center

2012-06-02 17:48

Iran nuclear facility

Tehran - Iran is finishing construction of a new space centre that will allow it to soon launch more domestically made satellites into orbit, the country's defence minister said on Saturday.

The remarks by General Ahmad Vahidi's were the first confirmation that Iran is building a new space facility amid the stand-off with the West over Iran's controversial nuclear programme. The West is concerned the programme masks efforts to make atomic weapons, a charge Tehran denies, insisting it's only for peaceful purposes.

Iran's ambitious space plans have also raised concerns in the West because of their possible military applications - the same rocket technology used to send satellites into orbit can also be retooled to make intercontinental warheads.

Vahidi, in comments carried by the official IRNA news agency, said the first satellite to be launched from the new centre will be the Tolo. It will be carried into orbit by the Iranian-made Simorgh light booster rocket, he said.

Vahidi didn't say where the new facility, which has been named after the Islamic Republic's founder Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, is located.

Iran already has a major satellite launch complex near Semnan, 200km east of Tehran, and another space centre - a satellite monitoring facility - outside Mahdasht, about 70km west of the Iranian capital.

"Some 80% of the actual construction of the new space centre has been completed," Vahidi said, adding that the new facility will send "satellites from Iran, the regional countries and the world of Islam into orbit in the near future".

Iran's decades-old space programme is a key aspect of its efforts to achieve technological prowess similar to that of world powers. In Feb 2010, Iran announced it had successfully launched a menagerie of animals - including a mouse, two turtles and worms - into space on a research rocket.

Iran launched its first commercial satellite in 2005 on a Russian rocket in a joint project with Moscow, which is said to be a partner in transferring space technology to Iran. That same year, the government said it had allocated $500m for space projects for the next five years.

Iran's lofty space plans also include putting a man in orbit within less than a decade, despite the expense and technological challenges involved.

Iran says it wants to put its own satellites into orbit to monitor natural disasters in the earthquake-prone nation and improve its telecommunications. Iranian officials also point to America's use of satellites to monitor conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq and say they need similar capabilities for their security.

- AP