Images indicate Iran launched satellite
DUBAI: Iran appears to have attempted a second satellite launch despite US criticism that its space programme helps the country develop ballistic missiles, satellite images released on Thursday suggest. Iran did not immediately acknowledge conducting such a launch.
Images released by the Colorado-based company DigitalGlobe show a rocket at the Imam Khomeini Space Center in Iran’s Semnan province on Tuesday. Images from Wednesday show the rocket was gone with what appears to be burn marks on its launch pad.
It wasn’t clear whether the satellite, if launched, made it into orbit. In the images, words written in Farsi in large characters on the launch pad appeared to say in part “40 years” and “Iranian made”, in different sections.
That is likely in reference to the 40th anniversary of Iran’s 1979 Revolution, which authorities are celebrating this month.
Iranian state media did not immediately report on the rocket launch, though such delays have happened in previous launches.
Iran had recently said it would launch its Doosti or “friendship” satellite. A launch in January failed to put a satellite, Payam, into orbit after successfully launching it from the same space centre.