An Islamic Space Program?

That’s what this article says.

Iran’s defence minister said the Islamic republic would launch its own satellite into space with an Iranian-made launch system, the official news agency IRNA reported.

“Within 18 months, Iran will launch its own satellite. Iran will be the first Islamic country to enter the stratosphere with its own satellite and its own, indigenous launch system,” Defence Minister Ali Shamkhani was quoted as saying.

I don’t know how much of this is due to bad translation, but it doesn’t make any sense as written. Something that’s only launched into the stratosphere is neither in space, nor a satellite.

It doesn’t say what kind of satellite they plan to launch, for what purpose. I also wonder if they’re planning on launching from Iran, and if so, how they’ll handle the overflight issues. Looking at a globe, there’s no ocean corridor east, so they’d have a hard time launching to low inclination without overflying Pakistan and India. If they want a high inclination (e.g., for a surveillance satellite) they’d have to do it from the south coast near the Pakistan border over the Arabian Sea, just missing Oman. If they were to skirt the Indian coastline, it looks like the lowest inclination they could get would be forty degrees or so, which would make for an expensive trip to GEO, considering the plane change.

Anyway, color me skeptical. Sounds more like bluster to me, especially considering the source.