The head of the Russian Roscosmos state space corporation, Dmitry Rogozin, has approved the timetable and budget for the development of Russia's super-heavy launch vehicle called Yenisei. It is expected that Yenisei will be developed and operational by 2028 at an overall cost of U.S.$15 billion (approximately 1 trillion rubles).
Read More »India’s Human Spaceflight Ambitions Faces Political Backlash, Technical Skepticism
Now that the euphoria over Prime Minister Narendra Modi's announcement that India will launch its first Vyomanaut (derived from the Sanskrit word for space, or vyoma) into Earth orbit by 2022 has passed, the political contours of the announcement are beginning to take shape.
Read More »Iranian Missile Restrictions In Return For Space Programme, IISS Report Proposes
A new report from the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) argues that despite the U.S. withdrawal from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA - also known as the Iran nuclear deal) an opportunity exists to constrain Iranian ballistic missile capabilities through arms control in return for allowing Iran to maintain a space launch capability that is closely monitored.
Read More »Missile Experts Assert that Iran is Not Pursuing an ICBM Programme
A report authored by two prominent missile experts and published on 2 March, 2018, by the prominent think-tank, the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), have asserted that Iran’s satellite launch vehicle capabilities are most likely not a ruse for an intercontinental ballistic missile programme, as claimed by a number …
Read More »Taiwan’s New Ballistic Missile Capable of Launching Microsatellites
Taiwan is reportedly developing its Yun Feng (Cloud Peak) medium range ballistic missile (MRBM) so that it is capable of launching microsatellites. Developed by National Chung-shan Institute of Science and Technology, the Yun Feng is based on the Skybow missile that uses a solid fuel booster capable of launching 50-200 …
Read More »Iran Space Agency Provides Update on Status of Satellites at World Space Week Event
During a press conference marking World Space Week, the head of the Iran Space Agency (ISA), Mohsen Bahrami, provided an update to the status of the five indigenously built satellites awaiting launch in Iran. The satellites (Doosti, Amir Kabir, Nahid 1, Zafar, and Pars 1) are all “on the agenda …
Read More »Iran Launches Simorgh: Act of Defiance to the U.S. or Legitimate SLV Test?
Iran launched its Simorgh space launch vehicle (SLV) into space on Thursday, July 27, 2017, from the Imam Khomeini Space Centre. The Simorgh SLV (Farsi for ‘Phoenix’) was not thought to have carried a payload. The U.S. Air Force’s Joint Space Operations Centre (JSpOC) at Vandenberg Air Force Base in …
Read More »Iran’s Simorgh rocket: a failed launch or a successful test?
More details are emerging of Iran’s launch of its Simorgh missile on Tuesday, 19 April, 2016. Most experts are unable to agree whether it was a failed space launch or a successful test of a new booster stage, with a few analysts are now suggesting that the Simorgh launch was …
Read More »