Iran satellite is step towards human space flight

On 15 June, Iran put its second ever satellite, Rasad-1, into orbit 260 kilometres above Earth. The nation hopes to use the experience to launch a monkey into space this year and, by 2019, a human. The worry is that such rockets could also be used to fire missiles at targets on Earth.

At 15 kilograms, Rasad-1 may be tiny, but it is a boost to Iran's space capabilities, says Brian Weeden of the Secure World Foundation think tank, headquartered in Washington DC.

"People wondered after the first time if they just got lucky," he says. "Now that they've put two satellites up there, that indicates perhaps it wasn't a fluke the first time. It demonstrates that their rocket technology is pretty good."

Monkey on-board
Rasad-1 is reportedly taking low-resolution images of Earth. But its launch seems intended mainly to give the country more experience in launching and operating satellites.

It is one step forward in what looks like an ambitious space plan, says Laura Grego of the Union of Concerned Scientists in Cambridge, Massachusetts. "They have this pretty ambitious list of six or seven satellites over the next three years," she says.

At least one of them is expected to carry an animal on board. Iran's state-run television company says the country will launch a monkey into orbit on a one-way trip "later this year". It also says Iran plans to launch an astronaut into space by 2019.

"The monkey seems perfectly plausible," Weeden says. Flying and safely returning a human to Earth by 2019 is more of a stretch, but it might be possible for Iran if it is a suborbital hop rather than a more challenging orbital flight, he says.