Posted on 02/03/2012 12:18:52 AM PST by Eleutheria5
Iranian officials announced they have successfully launched a new satellite into orbit, the latest in the Islamic Republic's space program.
Iran's state news agency IRNA said the satellite was launched Friday. It is reportedly designed to collect data on weather conditions and monitor for natural disasters.
IRNA also said the Navid, or Gospel in Farsi, weighs some 110 pounds and will orbit the earth at an altitude of up to 234 miles (375 kilometers).
Navid is the third small satellite Iran has launched in recent years. None have had a life-span of much more than a month.
It falls into a class of miniaturized or microsatellites, which are cheaper to build and allow for more inexpensive launch vehicles.
Iran also has plans to launch monkey into space, much as the United States did in the 1960's, by 2020.
Iran's space program has raised concerns because the same technology that allows missiles to launch satellites can be used to fire warheads.
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(Excerpt) Read more at israelnationalnews.com ...
I suspect the recent purges have removed almost all the scientists either by choice or by banning, so I will comment.
The first US nukes weighed about 10,000 pounds which is about 9,900 lbs more than this satellite. Today a sophisticated small nuke in “a suitcase” weighs about 150 lbs. and needs plutonium, not uranium. Plus a “suitcase nuke” does not have to have targeting apparatus or a reentry covering. Iran is probably is closer to the 10,000 lb nuke than the 150 lb one.
Bottom line, Iran is still a long way from having a working nuke that can be delivered by missle to the USA. They don’t even have a crude working nuke, they are nowhere close to a light weight plutonium nuke, they don’t have the missle to deliver it, they don’t have the reentry vehicle.
Still, given 2-3 years, they might be there.
It would be TEOTWAWKI.
“It is reportedly designed to collect data on weather conditions and monitor for natural disasters. “
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If I recall from various Area 51 documentaries, that’s pretty much exactly what we said about the U2 when it was being developed...
Obama has said that it doesn’t matter who the R’s choose to face him in the general election.
What do you think he knows?
Right now he’s staving off Israeli action by pretending like an Iranian embargo could be effective. Unless the Israelis are willing to be accused of not giving “peaceful” negotiations a chance, Obama will have pussy-footed away the critical window for Israel to do what is needed to protect the whole world.
But it buys the chance for a massive “crisis” (before the November election) to complete the final communist-Islamist takeover of America...
Exactly. What “natural” disaster are they expecting to monitor for the next month or so?
Are you accounting for the help they have probably been getting from North Korea, Syria, and/or Pakistan?
And the launching base they have in Venezuela?
To monitor weather and natural disasters wouldn’t it be far less expensive to turn on the TV?
SpaceX is making incredible progress. I think they are going to have a superior, safer, and much cheaper launch capability than any government on earth.
I agree.
110 pound in orbit? Plenty enough for an H-Bomb. Let me guess they are building ICBM’s for electrical power too...
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