Iran announces new Security-oriented 'space tracking centre'

The Iranian defence minister revealed that a new Iranian space monitoring centre will track orbiting objects. It is the latest of Iran's space programme claims, which include sending a monkey into orbit.

Iranian President Ahmadinejad praised the new centre as a benchmark in the country's space programme.

“This is a highly great achievement and we are among the few countries with such a centre and if we send a satellite into the space, we can receive its information in our country,” Ahmadinejad said in an address inaugurating the centre in Markazi province on Sunday.  He added that the "inauguration of this centre has brought us one step closer to the complete use of space."

Defence Minister General Ahmad Vahidi told reporters that the centre would mostly be used to monitor satellites passing overhead using radar, electro-optic and radio systems.

Iran already maintains a number of command and control stations around the country, and one inside the territory of its regional ally Syria.

The US has voiced fears that developments in space technology could bring Tehran closer to making long-range missiles. This is the main reason while it is targeting her and her oil industry with crippling sanctions to crumble her muscle to develop nuclear missiles.

Tehran has denied these claims, maintaining that the space programme is purely civilian-orientated. Of particular concern to Washington is Iran’s ambition to put more satellites into orbit, which Tehran says are aimed at monitoring earthquakes, improving security and increasing military surveillance.

Iran regularly boasts about its many technological advances. In March, the Aerospace Industries Organization claimed it sent a monkey into space aboard a Pioneer explorer rocket. The monkey allegedly returned to Earth alive after being sent into orbit at an altitude of 120 kilometers.

Iran has claimed it sent a number of smaller animals into space, including a rat, turtles and worms aboard a capsule carried by its Kavoshgar-3 rocket in 2010. The Director of the Iran Space Agency (ISA), Hamid Fazeli, hailed the mission as a huge success and said it was a prelude to sending a human into space.

Uganda to launch her first Space Observer

Uganda will soon launch the first space observer called Cadimella, Capt. Chris Nsamba, the chief executive officer and founder of the African Space Research Programme (ASRP), has revealed.

Nsamba was briefing the Vice-President, Edward Ssekandi, who inspected the launch pad of the space observer at Kimaka Airfield in Jinja said "This has demonstrated that Ugandans can also participate in sophisticated programmes. This is impressive and the Government will support the association. I am going to brief the President about this," Ssekandi said.

Nsamba and his eight-man team demonstrated to Ssekandi how the space probe works while in transit in the orbit. The team also hid the space probe and demonstrated to the Vice-President how it can be tracked using satellite in case it lands in another country.

Nsamba revealed that the space probe has self-defence, anti-time missile features, which protect it from being hit by missiles destined to destroy it in case it passes in the space of another country. After its launch, they will put a mouse in it and will have it lifted to the stratosphere by a helium balloon.

The space probe is fitted with cameras with a wide angle fish-eye lens to be used in taking pictures of Uganda from space and other features on the planet. The others are a thermometer and Global Positioning System trackers.

"We shall send a mouse to space. If it comes back alive, it will mean that Uganda is able to send human beings into space and we shall embark on constructing a new space observer that a person can use," Nsamba said.

"As the space probe orbits the planet, it will pick dust molecules for our laboratory research," he noted. His team had already launched a prototype test and was able to take some pictures while in space. Cadimella will orbit the space twice and come back with samples. In case it lands on water, they can command back to the surface.

ASRP has a core representation in Dallas, US which handles all international matters outside Africa.
The space probe will be used to scan meteoroids and asteroids closest to earth's orbit.

However, this like any other project, Uganda's space ambition will come with some challenges. Nsamba said they faced some challenges like building the motherboard and problems with the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), which had prevented them from flying it due to space laws.

Ahmadinejad to be the first Iranian Astronaut

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has said he is ready to take the risk of becoming the first human being sent into space by Iran, national media reports.

"I'm ready to be the first Iranian to sacrifice myself for our country's scientists," the official IRNA news agency quoted him as saying on the sidelines of an exhibition of space achievements in Tehran on Monday.

Iran said it sent a monkey into space, describing the launch as a successful step towards Tehran's plan to send an astronaut into space within the next five to six years. The monkey named "Pishgam", which means pioneer in Farsi, reportedly travelled 120km and safely returned to Earth.

The launch added to Western concerns about Iran's space programme because the same rocket technology could potentially be used to deliver a nuclear warhead on a ballistic missile.

In 2010, Iran said it launched an Explorer rocket into space carrying a mouse, a turtle and worms.

Iran's space officials say Iran will launch a bigger rocket carrying a larger animal to obtain greater safety assurances before sending a man into space.

Space tourist Anousheh Ansari was the first Iranian to make a journey into space aboard a Soyuz TMA-9 capsule from Baikonur, Kazakhstan, in 2006. The 40-year-old telecommunications entrepreneur paid a reported $20m for a space station visit.