Iranian Space program

[skyshadow]

baba, man aslan yadam raft ma ye space program darim. Ina dige shooresh daravordan. Ingari mikhan har 100 sali ye bar launch konan.

همش بخاطر روحانیه

Iran to complete construction of three satellites in coming months

https://en.mehrnews.com/news/147234...truction-of-three-satellites-in-coming-months

 

[skyshadow]

they are getting ready for 3 new launches

 

[skyshadow]

i think they were getting ready for floods maybe??

https://twitter.com/x/status/999335660925337600

 

[TheImmortal]

Iran to send new satellite into orbit

https://www.tehrantimes.com/news/438686/Iran-to-send-new-satellite-into-orbit

 

[Sineva]

How many satellites has iran actually built now?,it must be a reasonable number and yet only 4 have ever been orbited by iran.
I really have to wonder if this seemingly new found interest in satellites and the space program is genuine or just part of rouhanis approach to pressuring the west,after all he gutted the space program along with the nuclear program,so perhaps talking about ramping up the space program is just like the talk of ramping up the nuclear program.The irony was that the last 2 launches carried out by the rouhani regime in 2019 failed,with the simorgh launch failing because the 3rd stage had not been tested,but then what do you expect when the iranian space program had supposedly had its budget cut to around 4.6 million dollars.

 

[Galactic Penguin SST]

Iran's Suborbital Manned Launcher: "IRIS"

Timeline

• As early as 1988, Iranian source have reported that Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei visited a defense exhibition the same year, with Iran's first ever space launcher apparently based on the Shahab-3. The acronym IRIS (standing for Islamic Republic of Iran Space) could be read painted on it.

http://web.archive.org/web/20160213...erockets_1/Rest_World/IRIS/Gallery/IRIS_1.jpg ; https://archive.is/y8Gpn/ce687789ec3275cb242db3ddfadf1a4f8a549cad/scr.png
▲ 1. Iran's first ever space launcher apparently based on the Shahab-3 disclosed in 1988.


• Then two decades later, on the occasion of The Supreme Leader’s Inspection of Project Qaem SLV, held at the Imam Hossein University on 28 May 2010, the same space launcher could be seen again in the official logo of the IRGC’s Space Agency.

http://web.archive.org/web/20190729085107if_/http://www.mefda.ir/d/2018/11/12/4/258344.jpg ; https://archive.fo/2ywOq/31a1e748ad3cb055b1ab2a3745b21cab7503c740/scr.png ; http://www.mefda.ir/news/76400/از-ساخت-نارنجک-دستی-تا-ساخت-موشک-شهاب-سه-با-شهید-حسن-تهرانی-مقدم
▲ 2. The same space launcher can be seen in the official logo of the IRGC’s Space Agency in 2010.


• According to Iranian officials, the country's Aerospace Organization kicked off a 12-year project in 2009 to send an astronaut into space by 2021.

• In August 2010, President Ahmadinejad said Tehran had reviewed the space mission and decided to launch a manned capsule into space by 2017.

• As Iran disclosed its suborbital manned project, the same launcher reappeared for the third time, carrying an E1 spacecraft, in February 2015.

http://gallery.military.ir/albums/userpics/10228/05.jpg
▲ 3. The same launcher reappeared for the third time, carrying an E1 spacecraft into a suborbital flight, in February 2015.

https://i.imgur.com/ydQr5l3.jpg
▲ 4. U.S. Redstone, Iranian "IRIS" (Safir-1D), North Korean Hwasong-15.

 

[Galactic Penguin SST]

Another Safir-1 SLV launch imminent!

Final test of Nahid-1 telecom satellite accomplished

31 July 2019 - 08:47

https://archive.fo/kqDtn/ecf4f684ad84fdcd1472e68a18f5bbd70436b226/scr.png ; https://img9.irna.ir/d/r2/2019/07/31/4/156514323.jpg
▲ 1. Tehran, July 31, IRNA - Iran's Minister of Communications and Information Technology said the final test of Nahid-1 telecommunication satellite have been accomplished.

In his Twitter message, Mohammad-Javad Azari-Jahromi described as beautiful such achievement.

Earlier, the director of Iranian Space Research Center (ISRC) Hossein Samimi said just one step has remained for launching Nahid-1 satellite.

He noted that Nahid-1 project will be finalized and the satellite will be delivered for launching.

https://en.irna.ir/news/83418639/Final-test-of-Nahid-1-telecom-satellite-accomplished

 

[TheImmortal]

Iran Prepares Satellite Launch, Shelves Project To Send First Iranian To Space

https://www.google.com/amp/s/en.radiofarda.com/amp/30085211.html

 

[yavar]

 

[Galactic Penguin SST]

Minister: Iran's New Satellite Ready for Launch in Weeks

Wed Jul 31, 2019

"The space research centers have accomplished their task on the satellite and related final tests have been carried out, and the satellite could be delivered to the defense ministry within the next one to two weeks to be launched into the orbit," Azari Jahromi told reporters in Tehran on Wednesday after a cabinet meeting.

He added that the problems observed in the last two failed satellite launches of Iran have been resolved, and further expressed hope for a successful launch of Nahid into the orbit.

https://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13980509000961

Iran's Communication Satellite Developing Plan 2026

• Nahid-1, 50 Kg, LEO, Safir-1 SLV
• Nahid-2, < 100 Kg, LEO, Safir-2 SLV
• IRANSAT-1, 1 ton, GEO, Safir-3A SLV
• IRANSAT-2, 3 tons, GEO, Safir-3C SLV

http://web.archive.org/web/20190801104910if_/https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DVw4DqgXUAEOXQg.jpg ; https://archive.fo/TVRNZ/e148f10050430ae9d3e72e3606acc85cb88610a6.jpg ; https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DVw4DqgXUAEOXQg.jpg:large
▲ 1. Iran's roadmap for communication satellites. From official presentation of the Iranian Space Research Center.

Satellite Research Institute

Main responsibilities of the Satellite Research Institute (SRI) include: Research and Development, applied and experimental projects in the field of space science and technology as well as design and manufacturing of communications and remote sensing satellite. Some of the projects in the field of satellites which are undertaken at SRI are as follows:

Nahid-1 Project (Venus-1):

The flight model of Nahid-1 was shown on 14th February 2016 in the National Space Technology Day in presence of President Hassan Rouhani.

Nahid-1 missions are defined as the first step for in house development of geostationary communications satellite for the first time and its results can be used as the basic technology needed for operational satellites.

Nahid-1, as a micro-satellite, was assumed to test deployment of solar panels in orbit, Communication in Ku-band, taking pictures of the deployment process and estimating the opening rate.

Three-axis attitude control, satellite positioning, and effective S-band communication can be figured out as the secondary objectives of this project.

https://archive.fo/6CoKT/25d4a42f103c58fb3c2296527012aebf7c8e3aeb/scr.png ; https://isrc.ac.ir/getattachment/f9...c969/ماهواره-مخابراتی-ناهید-۱?maxsidesize=800 ; https://isrc.ac.ir/en-US/محصولات-و-خدمات/پروژه-ها/ماهواره-مخابراتی-ناهید-۱
▲ 2. The flight model of Nahid-1 was shown on 14 February 2016.


https://isrc.ac.ir/en-us/درباره-پژهشگاه

 

[Galactic Penguin SST]

France Sparks The First Global Arms Race In Outer Space V1.0

First edited 3 August 2019; Updated 12 August 2019

Table of Contents

1. Introduction
2. The 1966 Outer Space Treaty
3. Prerequisite for Space to Ground Capabilities
4. The Chain Reaction's Contenders
4.1. The Four Major Space Powers
4.1.1. France
4.1.2. Russia
4.1.3. The U.S.
4.1.4. China
4.2. The Four Minor Space Powers
4.2.1. India, Israel

Part 2

4.2.2. North Korea
4.2.3. Iran
4.3. The Outsider
4.3.1. Japan
5. Conclusion

1. Introduction

On 25 July 2019, France's Defence Minister has stated that in order to catch up with the great space powers, Paris would invest 700 millions Euros to deploy high power space based lasers by 2023.

With 2 billions Euros annual budget in space military, France still lags behind the U.S. (50 billions), China (10 billions) and Russia (4 billions).

These offensive weapons would include machine guns to destroy solar panels of approaching enemy spacecrafts, a clear reference to Russia's 2017 Louch-Olympe satellite that was caught marauding near the Franco-Italian Athena-Fidus military communications satellite.

But also laser to destroy enemy spacecrafts' solar pannel and optics.

Most important, stressing the use of adapative optics, Paris has reveal its intention to give its space assets a true space to ground capability!

To control all these new space platforms constituting a new Space Defence Force, Macron, speaking on 13 July 2019 ahead of Bastille Day celebrations, said that a new dedicated command would be formed in September.

In a chain reaction, sparked by France's decision, all the members of the Elite Club of Space Superpowers are expected to announce the deployment of their own Space to Ground assets within months to come.

2. The 1966 Outer Space Treaty

France has ratified the treaty in 1967.

The Outer Space Treaty provides the basic framework on international space law, including the following principles:

•the exploration and use of outer space shall be carried out for the benefit and in the interests of all countries and shall be the province of all mankind;

Obviously space development was military since day one, even before 1966 and to this day.
​

•outer space shall be free for exploration and use by all States;

Obviously, North Korea and Iran, and to a lesser extend China before 2010, are not allowed to benefit from space development by the West.
​

•States shall not place nuclear weapons or other weapons of mass destruction in orbit or on celestial bodies or station them in outer space in any other manner;

Obviously, WMDs are orbiting in outer space, the Soviet FOB nukes being only a very small part of them.
​

•the Moon and other celestial bodies shall be used exclusively for peaceful purposes;

Obviously, both the U.S. and Japan have tested kinetic weapons on asteroids.
​

•States shall be liable for damage caused by their space objects;

Obviously, the U.S. never did, hiding behind a convenient craftily fabricated 'Bermuda Triangle' and 'UFO' hoaxes as smoke screens! Nor did China, Russia and Europe for all the rocket stages falling over Cambodia, Brazil, Myanmar, French Polynesia, etc.
​

•States shall avoid harmful contamination of space and celestial bodies.

Obviously, as outer space environment is highly radioactive, nuclear reactors don't really add much radiations!
​

In a nutshell, The Outer Space Treaty was and is a total farce from A to Z.

3. Prerequisite for Space to Ground Capabilities

Only the top four major space powers of the most elite club of Space to Ground Capable Nations could deploy such assets, that requires the most challenging scientific skills to overcome the numerous technological hurdles.

•Directed Energy Weapons (D.E.W.) such as Lasers must be of no less than several hundreds of kW and up to several MW in output.

•With intensities of several hundreds of kW output, the power generation is key, be it chemical, nuclear or even solar.

•Adaptive Optics (A.O.) are necessary to counter distortions from the atmospheric turbulence.

•To brute-force with several MW power outputs and above will only result in backscattering, ionization and breakdown of the atmospheric molecules. Thus the additional technological solutions needed to circumvent this major hurdle: pulsed laser, etc.

•Large optical aperture are necessary to achieve the resolution required for acquisition and identification of ground targets, and conduct the tracking and the engagement: decametric size.

•The total mass is limited by the payload capacity of the space launchers: above several 20 tons.

•The total volume is also limited by space launchers, therefore space docking capability might be necessary: spacelab size.

•An orbital fleet is necessary to increase the total coverage, especially if 24/7 worldwide coverage is needed: more than 30.

4. The Chain Reaction's Contenders

4.1. The Four Major Space Powers

4.1.1. France

France has conducted research on Adaptive Optics for military applications since the 1986s, and ASAT Lasers for years.

Launched in 14th May 2009, ESA’s Herschel telescope was the largest mirror flown in space. This 3.5 m-diameter reflector was built by the French silicon carbide manufacturer Boostec.

France has a current payload capability of less than 20 tons into LEO with its Arian 5 launchers. Arian 6 will slightly increase it payload to 21 tons by 2021.

France has mastered space docking technologies, and could assemble several modules to form large DEW complex with a total mass under 100 tons.

France has mastered miniaturized nuclear powerplant, such as those used in its submarine fleet.

France has demonstrated its ability to deploy complex array of military satellites, in the Galileo global navigation satellite system (GNSS) program. In 2021, it will launch the CERES triplets.

700 millions Euros have been allocated for developing space weapons by 2023.

To operate these Space DEW France plans to set up its own space force, the “Air and Space Army,” as part of the French Air Force. The new organization will be based in Toulouse, but it’s not clear if the Air and Space Army will remain part of the French Air Force or become its own service branch.

http://web.archive.org/web/20190803...send-into-space-combat-lasers-why-735x400.jpg ; https://archive.is/pOi8I/f908a34a9aafc8e75fe03bc476c76f32780b43bd.jpg ; https://tech-news.websawa.com/france-plans-to-send-into-space-combat-lasers-why/
▲ 1. France's Space to Ground Laser by 2023, artistic illustration. July 2019.


4.1.2. Russia

As the target of Paris's announcement, Russia is expected to be the first to react, and before the year's end (2019).

More over, Russia inherits from the Soviet-era first DEW platform launched on 15 May 1987, during the maiden flight of the heavy lift launcher Energia.

"Skif-DM" 17F19DM ("Скиф-ДМ" 17Ф19ДМ), disguised under the official name "Polyus", or Mir-2 (Peace-2) Soviet Space Station.

Polyus was the Soviet response to the project "Star Wars" launched by the American president Reagan. It was to be in fact a space combat laser station.

Due to a series of failures of Energia during the launch, Polyus would not enter orbit but crash in the Pacific Ocean.

In the middle of the year 1985 it did not seem difficult to make a spacecraft of 100 tons.

Then it was ordered to be transformed to a spacecraft with a length of almost 37 m and a diameter of 4.1 m weighting nearly 80 t and including 2 principal sections: the small service block, and the larger targeting module.
Fitted with a megawatt-class carbon-dioxide laser, Polyus was covered by an optically black shroud and it was suspected that this may have been radar absorptive as well.

After the failed launch, studies for another space station of 100 tons were then started.

http://web.archive.org/web/20190808172426/http://www.buran-energia.net/img/polious-animation.gif ; https://archive.fo/nAMpN/8821cbd4e7d75264f08a388646aa80538e36c047.gif ; http://www.buran.ru/htm/cargo.htm
▲ 2. Launched on 15 May 1987, from Baikonur Cosmodrome Site 250, Polyus would have been the core module of the new MIR-2 (Peace-2) Soviet space station. The Polyus military testbed was the first disclosed orbital directed energy platform, fitted with a megawatt-class carbon-dioxide laser.
Polyus was covered by an optically black shroud and it was suspected that this may have been radar absorptive as well.

http://web.archive.org/web/20190808175040if_/http://www.buran.ru/images/jpg/skif-16.jpg ; https://archive.fo/GhocZ/a1076e2406430844ff7c29a4373431d3ac029b25.jpg ; http://www.buran.ru/htm/cargo.htm
▲ 3. Crew docking with Mir-2 (Peace-2) space combat laser station.

http://web.archive.org/web/20190808175231if_/http://www.buran.ru/images/jpg/skif-11.jpg ; https://archive.fo/zpXZ7/081a1b22a836de2e5e3b391e96f09c3c479c2cd7.jpg ; http://www.buran.ru/htm/cargo.htm
▲ 4. Mir-2 (Peace-2) space combat laser station engaging an orbital target.

The Soviet Topaz-II power system is a 5-6 kWe space nuclear system that is based on thermionic power conversion.

Its development was curtailed after 1989. As an alternative to chemical lasers, an electric powered laser of the 100s kW or MW class would necessitate to upscale the nuclear plant, or to couple powerful battery banks.

The Araks satellite was the closest, the Soviet space industry came to matching the optical systems of the U.S. military KH-11 Space Telescope and its Hubble civilian equivalent. Launched on June 6th 1997, with a Cassegrain telescope main mirror's diameter of 1.5 meters.


Russia has demonstrated its ability to deploy complex array of military satellites, such as the GLONASS global navigation satellite system (GNSS) program.

Russia no longer operates the Energia launcher. Currently the Proton-M allows to place a 22 tons payload into LEO, and 24.5 tons with the Angara A5.

Several launches would be needed for assembling a DEW complex with a total mass of 100 tons.

To operate these space DEW, the Russian Space Forces have been reestablished following the 1st August 2015 merger between the Russian Air Force and the Russian Aerospace Defence Forces.
The Russian Space Forces were originally formed on 10th August 1992.


4.1.3. The U.S.

The U.S. will mechanically react to the Russian move. Currently the only power to have deployed DEW in earth orbits, the only hurdle will be economic, with more than 22 trillion dollars of debt, making it a virtual beggar, dependent of the Chinese and Japanese financial godsends.

Moreover, the U.S. will continue its beggar bowl's world tour, as long as it needs to import Rare Earth Elements (R.E.E.) from China and the other R.E.E. exporters of the B.R.I.V.S. (Brazil, Russia, India, Vietnam, South Africa), only to stay afloat in the space arms race.

http://web.archive.org/web/20190808...img7/fs/Trumbeggarbowlworltour.1565277584.jpg ; https://defence.pk/pdf/attachments/...6/?temp_hash=d774ae55fb03e91fb700ad165d3930f5
▲ 5. With more than 22 trillion dollars of debt, the U.S. will continue its beggar bowl's world tour, and as long as it needs to import Rare Earth Elements (R.E.E.) from China.

The concept of Adaptive Optics (A.O.) was first proposed in a 1953 paper by astronomer Horace Babcock.

In the late 1960's and early 1970's, the U.S. military and aerospace communities built the first significant adaptive optics systems to target laser on orbiting satellites from the ground.

In the 1973s, the USAF Airborne Laser Laboratory (ALL), a modified NKC-135A aircraft, was the first test platform for airborne High Energy Laser (HEL) research.
Its carbon dioxide gas dynamic laser power output was 480 kW at 10,6 μm, able to direct a heat flux density of 100 W/cm² on a 1 km target, such as AIM-9 missiles and drones.

Lacking an Adaptive Optics system, the ALL was limited by atmospheric turbulence.

In 1984, the Space Based Laser (SBL) program was cancelled due to technological and political difficulties.

With a rang of 4'000 km (up to 12'000 km), a spot size of 0.3 to 1.0 meter at focus, this orbital combat system would have weighted 35 tons and orbited at 800-1'300 km altitude. With an orbit inclination of 40°, giving a coverage per satellite of about a tenth of the earth's surface, thus requiring a 20 satellites configuration for global world coverage.

The 8 meter mirror is segmented so that it can be folded inside a launch vehicle and unfurled in orbit like flower petals.

Its deuterium-fluoride laser at 2.7 mm would have produced an 5-10 MW output.

Ground 100 kW weapons also exist, such as the High Energy Laser Tactical Vehicle Demonstrator (HEL TVD) program managed by the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command/Army Forces Strategic Command’s (USASMDC/ARSTRAT).

The HEL TVD is designed to counter drones, rockets, artillery, and mortars (C-RAM/UAS).

The high energy laser system represents very low operating costs, as it requires only fuel to complete its mission, with an average cost per kill of approximately $30. There is no ordnance logistics burden, as with conventional weapons.

http://web.archive.org/web/20190722...m/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/hel-tvd_1021.jpg ; https://archive.fo/AjR65/d8dba78f4acb8f449724fc2278da1b53ea7b693e.jpg ; https://defense-update.com/20190515_hel-tvd-2.html
▲ 6. Team Dynetics 100kW-class high energy laser contract for U.S. Army. May 2019

Of course, these tactical ranges will need to be extended to several hundred of km to several thousand of km, in order to be useful from LEO. The aperture of the optics will also needed to be increased to decametric size. Aperture of 2.4 m optics and above have been orbited such as the Program 1010.

Thus the need of and uprated powerplant. Nuclear energy is the best option for this electric driven laser, keeping in mind that there is no oxygen for fuel generated electricity in earth orbit.

The U.S. fission space reactor SP-100, although cancelled, could provide 100 kW electric power, with as little as 140 kg of Uranium 235, and a reactor mass of 5.42 tons.

http://web.archive.org/web/20190803145518if_/http://ipic.su/img/img7/fs/U.1564844096.jpg ; https://archive.fo/czvrr/ea1c7e73d369a58c4fd9ea4022d375b43d2e88d4.jpg
▲ 7. The U.S. SP-100 fission space reactor can generate 100 kW electric power.

In comparison, the four sets of arrays of the International Space Station (I.S.S.) are capable of generating 84 to 120 kilowatts of electricity. Each of the eight solar arrays is 112 feet long by 39 feet wide. A solar array's wingspan of 240 feet (73 meters).

The Falcon-Heavy can deliver payloads of 63 tons into LEO. Payload fairing can house a payload of 12 m long 4.6 m diameter cylinder with 5 more meters on top but with decreased conical diameter thus totalling 17 m.

Enough for any large truck-sized DEW module.

The U.S. has demonstrated its ability to deploy complex array of military satellites, such as the NOSS triplets and the GPS global navigation satellite system (GNSS) program.

To operate these space DEW, under the proposal approved by President Trump in May 2019, the U.S. Space Force would be organized under the Department of the Air Force.


4.1.4. China

Under the U.S. unveiled threats, in response, China would have no other option but to place its own fleet of DEW into space.

Wang Ganchang is the founder of Chinese laser fusion technology. In 1964 the Shanghai Optical Machinery Institute (上海光机所) developed a high-power 10 MW output laser. As an advocate of nuclear energy, he made with four nuclear experts in October 1978 the proposition to develop China's nuclear power.

In March 3rd, 1986, Wang Ganchang, Wang Dayan, Yang Jiachi and Chen Fangyun first proposed in a letter (《关于跟踪世界战略性高科技发展的建议》) to the Chinese government to launch researches covering lasers, microwaves, and electromagnetic pulse weapons. The plan would be adopted in November of that year under the code name Project 863 (“863计划”).

China has produced several examples of road-mobile laser weapons.
The Silent Hunter 30-100kW vehicle-based laser weapon system has a maximum range of 4km. Its laser beam can cut through a 5mm steel sheet from 1km away, or five layers of 2mm steel sheets from 800m away, according to its developer China Poly Technologies. It was first unveiled at the South African Air Show in 2016.

For Space to Ground missions, the ranges and powers will need to be uprated several fold.

The Gaofen-3 SAR satellite's solar pannels, made of triple-junction Gallium-Arsenide cells delivers a peak power of 15 kW. That is far below the several 100 kW required. The use of a nuclear powerplant might though not be necessary if powerful battery banks are used.
Chinese companies such as Shenzhen's BYD are already world leaders in producing batteries with higher discharge rates needed for accelerations in electric bus and with one charge lasting almost 300kms or a full day’s operation.

China has also stated that it will develop and launch the Xuntian (巡天) Space Telescope with a two-meter-diameter main mirror, co-orbiting with the country's first space station, and dock with it for refueling as well as maintenance and exchange, around 2020.

http://web.archive.org/web/20190808.../2018-06/04/xuntian-cmsa-weibo-lin-xiaoyi.jpg ; https://archive.fo/iZfi4/239daa0174a26c89007e4b8660fc6ce696a38f0a.jpg
▲ 8. China's Xuntian (巡天) Space Telescope with a two-meter-diameter primary mirror.

China has produced the world largest aspheric mirror for primarily space military applications: "such a [space platform] can be used to observe low earth orbit satellites of other countries and to [identify, track and target their] missile launches."
The 4.03-meter diameter mirror with a mass of 1.6 tonnes is made of silicon carbide (SiC) by the Changchun Institute of Optics, Fine Mechanics and Physics.

http://web.archive.org/web/20190808...tive/city/20180821/W020180821598981263327.png ; https://archive.is/bx8qA/7e47a16d76ebbd865cb25370d3dbe349d5711449.png ; http://news.cnr.cn/native/city/20180821/W020180821598981263327.png ; http://news.cnr.cn/native/city/20180821/t20180821_524338099.shtml ; https://lt.cjdby.net/thread-2494272-1-1.html ; http://www.globaltimes.cn/Portals/0...8-23/578fd340-828c-499a-b24a-79b72daee939.jpg
▲ 9. The high-precision silicon carbide aspheric mirror with a diameter of 4.03 meters developed by the Changchun Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences is the largest single-crystal silicon carbide mirror in the world. 2018-08-21

According to some source, China's Gaofen-11 surveillance satellite's telescope has a 1.8 meter diameter aperture primary mirror. The same technology for coating the telescope primary mirror with protected aluminium layer could be used for 2.4 meter diameter aperture mirrors.

The research and development on Adaptive Optics (AO) in China began in 1979. In 1980, the first laboratory on AO in China was established in the Institute of Optics and Electronics (IOE), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS).

In May 2016, the Institute of Optronics Technology of the Chinese Academy of Science has tested an Adaptive Optics key technology for a 1.8 meter diameter aperture telescope. In closed-loop, the resolution has reached 1.7 times the diffraction limit.

Therefore, this major breakthrough has been awarded the first prize of the National Invention Prize For National Defence 2017. This Adaptive Optics has then been tested onboard the Chang'e 5-T1 lunar probe, allowing to achieve a lunar ground resolution of 0.97 meter.


By 2020, China's CZ-504 space launcher will have a payload capability of 25 tons in LEO.

China has already mastered rendez-vous and space docking with its Tiangong-1 and Tiangong-2 program.

Several launches would be needed for assembling a DEW complex with a total mass of under 100 tons.

By 2030, the CZ-9 SLV would allow payload of 140 tons in LEO.

China has demonstrated its ability to deploy complex array of military satellites, such as the YAOGAN triplets, and the BEIDOU global navigation satellite system (GNSS).

China has no dedicated Space Force, contradicting Japanese RUMINT. But this will be the case once a fleet of space DEWs starts to be launched into orbit.

Thus the pole position for China in initiating the space breakaway.

4.2. The Four Minor Space Powers

Behind the lead peloton, the gruppetto is a goup of minor players who have to cooperate and assist one another in order to stay in the global arms space race and avoid the elimination.

Currently, none of these nations have mastered all the prerequisite key technologies needed to deploy space to ground DEWs.

4.2.1. India, Israel

As India is always hell-bent in trying to catch up with some giant northern neighbour, be it with the ASAT weapon, the manned program, the lunar lander, and the space laboratory, it is highly expected that Bharat will also try very hard to deploy its own directed energy space to ground platforms.

As Israel is already at the forefront among the nations that have developed anti-ballistic missile weapons, space to ground DEW would naturally be of great strategic importance as the next layer in countering hostile incoming ballistic missiles.

Israel's space launch vehicle Shavit can not place payload above a few hundreds of kg into LEO. Therefore, it outsources all its space launches abroad, especially in India.

India lacks advanced technological capabilities and Israel is one of its providers. In turn, what Israel lacks in developing capabilities, it simply siphons them overseas, be it in the E.U., Russia and mostly at the source, in the U.S.

The recent Indian ASAT test exemplifies this Israeli outsourcing. Originated in the U.S. and tested in India.

The Kinetic Kill Vehicle's onboard advanced terminal guidance system, featured a strap-down (non-gimballed) imaging infrared (IIR) seeker and an inertial navigation system that used ring-laser gyroscopes (RLGs).

A seeker presenting similarities with the Israeli's Arrow-3 kill vehicle one (gimballed).

http://web.archive.org/web/20190806...su/img/img7/fs/D3e9HEAWwAAgV0B.1565104030.jpg ; https://archive.fo/gRpVd/2b0ad162f63174aeafbb23f9b8eeb2221d1abaa1.jpg ;
http://web.archive.org/web/20190810...t-rakshak.com/viewtopic.php?t=7705&start=600; https://youtu.be/KRs79t6z7fc?t=81
▲ 10. Indian ASAT KKV's Infrared Imaging Radar (IIR) seeker.

http://web.archive.org/web/20190806151713if_/http://ipic.su/img/img7/fs/ISRAELARROW-3.1565104618.jpg ; https://archive.fo/gecjp/6211d20a5fce7c5088a1470933d8ab05edbd1f66.jpg
▲ 11. Israeli's Arrow-3 kill vehicle IIR seeker. Exhibition mockup.

India's LASTEC has also developed a 10kW Chemical Oxygen Iodine Laser (COIL) and is working on developing a 30-100 kW vehicle-mounted COIL system. It is also developing a “gas dynamic high power laser-based DEW” called ‘Aditya’ project.

Two DRDO laboratories — Centre for High Energy Systems and Sciences (CHESS) and Laser Science & Technology Centre (LASTEC) — are currently working on developing the source for generating a fiber laser.

At present, the source of the fiber laser, which is the “heart of the system”, is imported from Germany.

High power microwave (HPM) device from DRDO have delivered output power of 4 MW at a frequency of 3.26GHz.

http://web.archive.org/web/20190806154039if_/http://ipic.su/img/img7/fs/Untitled13.1565106022.jpg ; https://archive.fo/oVoRE/049deaa484418b4fd0db64b55dade22d96fd2b90.jpg ; https://www.******************/foru...d-the-anti-satellite-asat-missile.2890/page-6
▲ 12. HPM device from DRDO have delivered output power of 4 MW.


India's GSLV Mk III space launcher can place 8 tons payload into 600 km LEO, 4 tons into GTO. The payload fairing is 5 meters in diameter.

The lack of payload capability can only be circumvented by developing rendez-vous and docking technologies. Several launches would be needed for assembling a DEW complex with a total mass of under 100 tons.

The planned Indian Space Station is envisaged to weigh 20 tonnes and serve as a facility where astronauts can stay for 15-20 days, and it would be placed in an orbit 400 km above earth. The time frame for launch is 5-7 years after Gaganyaan (AUG 2022).

It would be similar to the Salyut Space Laboratory with two modules.

To support the Indian Space Station program, docking technologies will be develop with an orbital platform (PS4-OP), made of the last stage of the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle.

https://archive.fo/goM7Z/fe8ee905d3127047356e91d76c052a601f2370e2.png ; https://i.imgur.com/6Boz6It.png
▲ 13. The 20 tons Indian Space Station, made of two modules.

India has only demonstrated its ability to deploy regional array of 8 military satellites, with the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS), but might expand it to a global constellation of 24 satellites (GINS), with the help of Israel.

 

[Galactic Penguin SST]

France Sparks The First Global Arms Race In Outer Space Part 2 V1.0


4.2.2. North Korea

North Korea has hinted that it was involved in DEW researches.

This included a possible North Korean-Iranian Neutrino-Antineutrino annihilation at the Z0 Pole counter nuclear weapon, along more conventional laser.

http://web.archive.org/web/20190319....com/content/photo/2016/20160304-kp-01-10.jpg ; http://web.archive.org/save/http://www.dprktoday.com/index.php?type=42&no=1964 ; http://www.xici.net/d228225918.htm
▲ 14. First hint at the Iranian-DPRK Directed Energy Counter Nuclear Weapon Program. 주체105(2016)년 3월 4일

http://web.archive.org/web/20190319...lickr.com/5/4885/31487803767_7c98fddf26_b.jpg ; http://web.archive.org/web/20190810170025/https://www.flickr.com/photos/arirangmeari/31487803767/
▲ 15. DPRK's Directed Energy Program. Uploaded on December 23, 2018.

But what makes North Korea very special is its top position among rare earth minerals producers.

No need to add that such laser research can not be conducted without a sufficient reserve of rare earth minerals, the sine qua non prerequisite in high energy physics.

Indeed, North Korea's 216 million tonne Jongju deposit, theoretically worth trillions of dollars, would more than double the current global known resource of REE oxides which according to the US Geological Survey is pegged at 110 million tonnes.

This amounts to five times that of China's, the current world's first rare earth minerals exporter. Making Kim Jong Un's Korea the military powerhouse the most likely to first succeed in developing and fielding such a new class of DEWs.

http://web.archive.org/web/20190808143653if_/http://ipic.su/img/img7/fs/DPRKREE2017.1565274981.jpg ; https://archive.fo/MBc1n/28d86faf1fb8d02780b261f10fc76447dc82cb0c.jpg ; http://web.archive.org/web/20190404...7/?temp_hash=2bc8a8e641ac0d14fc258c0fd24bc06c ; https://defence.pk/pdf/attachments/...7/?temp_hash=2bc8a8e641ac0d14fc258c0fd24bc06c
▲ 16. First world's reserve of Rare Earth Elements in the DPRK.

To power the electric driven lasers, miniaturized nuclear reactors might be envisaged. North Korea is known to have started the development of several type of miniaturized nuclear reactors. One of them should provide the electric power for its 10,000-ton-class strategic submarines (SSBN) program disclosed in 2014.

Of course, naval nuclear reactors, though powerful, are too massive to be launched into space.

Another one should be airborne.

Very little is known about the existence of the North Korean space telescope project.

There is only a small possible hint in the media of this space telescope, an equivalent of the Iranian Space Research Center's one.

http://web.archive.org/web/20190805...s/DPRKSpaceTelescope30APR20191.1565018018.jpg ; https://archive.fo/d0cjD/5c1b5219163fe532134d1d4df4656af875583456.jpg ;
[특집] 래일을 보다 "Look at the rails" (Chosun Central TV), Published on Apr 29, 2019, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XM-BPdkWxug, https://vk.com/wall469579262_7495?z=video469579262_456243491%2F11d09bede16c0d1cee%2Fpl_post_469579262_7495
▲ 17. At T=11mn38s: Illustration of a Space Telescope. 29 April 2019 KCTV Video

So far, North Korea has tested the second stage of its future Unha-9 space launcher. Under the official name of Hwasong-15 ICBM, on November 2017.
The payload capability should be 1 tons in GEO and 3 tons in GEO for its heavy version. That is similar to the Indian GSLV Mk III space launcher that can place 8 tons payload into LEO (see below the Safir-3).

But North Korea has plan for a more powerful launcher, able to place 20 tons into LEO: the Unha-20.

An image dated from 15th April 2017 has disclosed three generations of North Korean space launchers: the KWANGMYONGSONG SLV aka Unha-4, an Unha-9 and the mysterious Unha-20.

http://web.archive.org/web/20170717...lickr.com/3/2864/33667839040_0d52f66cc6_b.jpg ; https://archive.is/B1b6w/4a5e44874af30c2218f377fe13b8f4b9957388e4.jpg ; https://defence.pk/pdf/attachments/...1/?temp_hash=d93afcf6c9127c9cfefd609a077d6185 ; https://www.flickr.com/photos/uriminzok/33667839040/
▲ 18. One image, three generations of North Korean space launchers. Center: notice the KWANGMYONGSONG SLV aka Unha-4 represented left of a huge (meaning at least twice the size) Unha-9 SLV. Unha-20 are pillar-sized! April 15, 2017 picture.

http://web.archive.org/web/20190324234320if_/https://i.imgur.com/YJeN7HI.jpg ; https://archive.fo/8MUj0/5746e1eeabd68c89d76db3e1acc6dd6bb97af820.jpg ; https://defence.pk/pdf/attachments/...7/?temp_hash=70fc9b1656a500388ff26bb0f6ad1834
▲ 19. Artistic representation of the North Korean Unha launchers family, 2019. Outdated as of Mid-February 2019.

http://web.archive.org/web/20190322...a/10153/upfile/201508/2015081018133853753.jpg ; https://archive.fo/dFIP1/2096407b4d304bd99c1a5d2f1edb6a13f83079d2.jpg ; http://web.archive.org/web/20190807...rd/bbs/view.html?b_bbs_id=10158&pn=1&num=4648
▲ 20. North Korean sea-launched Unha-20: the only way to launch commercial satellites. 2015-08-10 18:19:10

Very little is known about the existence of the North Korean space laboratory project. Since the DPRK has disclosed its manned space program, such a space laboratory is the only viable option to justify a long term human presence in space. The size should be similar to the Indian's space laboratory, itself similar to the Soviet-era Salyut.

Pictures of a future North Korean launcher have been revealed for more than two decades now, similar to the Soviet-era Energia heavy-lift partially recoverable launch system designed for a variety of payloads including the Buran spacecraft.

But only a few have noticed the meaning above the space launcher of a small space laboratory!

http://web.archive.org/web/20190807...f73cd55d704a5004ae2cadeae5f886.1565187217.jpg ; https://archive.fo/MkKk4/befb910e5bf73cd55d704a5004ae2cadeae5f886.jpg ; http://web.archive.org/web/20190807...20&fit=max&s=5fabfe40cb132853b16ac06a67966e0f ; https://archive.fo/9rxQ3/befb910e5bf73cd55d704a5004ae2cadeae5f886 ; https://charliecrane.com/portfolio/welcome-to-pyongyang ; https://defence.pk/pdf/attachments/...3/?temp_hash=c4697492aaa386b6172c2c1cf3a0ecfa
▲ 21. North Korean Space shuttle model in the Mangyongdae Schoolchildren’s Palace that was opened in 1989. Notice the space laboratory.

Three decades later, a crude model was again displayed, on the occasion of the National Youth Science Fiction Literature and Model Exhibition 2018, in June.
The orbital manned spacecraft seems powered by two pair of solar panels, linked to a cylindrical module that shows 3 portholes.

http://web.archive.org/web/20190807...lickr.com/2/1755/42507168321_2890520ea0_b.jpg ; https://archive.fo/tWv4n/f14da7d8064b1671c0c0ce5317f49d8ad97d068a.jpg ; https://www.flickr.com/photos/dprktoday/42507168321/ ; https://defence.pk/pdf/attachments/...4/?temp_hash=e4a69666c2d20d594c3587b699925220 ; 전국소년과학환상문예작품 및 모형전시회-2018》 개막_3 ; Uploaded on June 2, 2018
▲ 22. National Youth Science Fiction Literature and Model Exhibition 2018: published on 2 June 2018, a depiction of a North Korean orbital manned spacecraft, powered by two pair of solar panels, linked to a cylindrical module that shows 3 portholes.

This indicates that North Korea would have to develop rendez-vous and docking technologies.

Several launches of Unha-20 would be needed for assembling a DEW complex with a total mass of under 100 tons.

Once North Korea succeeds in the development of its geostationary communication satellites, it will start building its own GPS system.

This first step is essential, and the experience would allow to later place into orbit an entire arrary of DEWs complex with global world coverage.

4.2.3. Iran

North Korea has hinted that it was involved in DEW researches with Iran.

This included a possible North Korean-Iranian Neutrino-Antineutrino annihilation at the Z0 pole counter nuclear weapon, along more conventional laser.

To power the electric driven lasers, miniaturized nuclear reactors might be envisaged. Iran is known to have started the development of miniaturized nuclear reactors. It should provide the electric power for its 10,000-ton-class strategic submarines (SSBN) program disclosed in 2012.

Iran has disclosed discussion on a 3 meter Class Telescope with Adaptive Optics for its National Observatory Program (2011).

The Iranian Space Research Center's Orbital Telescope is a project in its early stages. The feasibility and needs assessment study of this project was carried out.

http://web.archive.org/web/20190805150156if_/http://ipic.su/img/img7/fs/image17.1565017296.jpg ; https://archive.fo/Hgfzf/1ae8342e4b2a9782018bbaac9ccad4485aec46a6.jpg ; https://isrc.ac.ir/getattachment/پژوهشکده-ها/مرکز-فضایی-ایران/image17.jpg ; https://isrc.ac.ir/en-US/پژوهشکده-ها/مرکز-فضایی-ایران ; http://archive.fo/T9L7L
▲ 23. Iran's Orbital Telescope.

Iran's Communication Satellite Developing Plan 2026 of the Iranian Space Research Center (I.S.R.C.) has revealed its future space launcher's payload capabilities:

• Nahid-1, 50 Kg, LEO, Safir-1 SLV
• Nahid-2, < 100 Kg, LEO, Safir-2 SLV
• IRANSAT-1, 1 ton, GEO, Safir-3A SLV
• IRANSAT-2, 3 tons, GEO, Safir-3C SLV

http://web.archive.org/web/20190801104910if_/https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DVw4DqgXUAEOXQg.jpg ; https://archive.fo/TVRNZ/e148f10050430ae9d3e72e3606acc85cb88610a6.jpg ; https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DVw4DqgXUAEOXQg.jpg:large
▲ 24. Iran's roadmap for communication satellites. From official presentation of the Iranian Space Research Center.

The existence of an even more powerful heavy space launcher, able to place 20 tons into LEO, has also been revealed, the Safir-4.

An Iranian version of the North Korean Heavy-Lift Space Launcher Unha-20 has figured prominently in a huge graphic that was displayed during January 2019 in Tehran's Valiasr Square. The billboard was running in conjunction with the 40th anniversary of the Iranian Revolution.

http://web.archive.org/web/20190322040402if_/http://ipic.su/img/img7/fs/proxy_006.1553224298.jpg ; https://archive.fo/LlgII/ff65c5e613f4e6fa6117675b60d31c2b1e1ec5e1.jpg ; http://imagesvc.timeincapp.com/v3/f...es.wordpress.com/2019/01/ddacv.jpg?quality=85 ; https://media.mehrnews.com/d/2019/01/05/4/3004791.jpg; https://www.mehrnews.com/news/4504592/رونمایی-از-جدیدترین-دیوارنگاره-میدان-ولیعصر-با-موضوع-جوانان ; رونمایی از جدیدترین دیوارنگاره میدان ولیعصر با موضوع جوانان ;
▲ 25. 17 January 2019. Note that Shahid Hajj General Hassan Tehrani Moghaddam, the father of Iran's space program is depicted bringing a treasure trove of [North Korean] blueprints to his fellow countrymen!

Iran has also plan for launching array of satellites, such as the Navigational Satellite System disclosed in 2011.

But the similarities with North Korea ends here. As North Korea has accessed the status of nuclear state, sanctioned by the recent visit of an incumbent U.S President to North Korea on 1st July 2019.

As for Iran, there is an 70 years old rule that causes the destruction or overthrow of any nation and leader of the Middle East by the U.S., should they reach the nuclear arms threshold, thus breaking the Israeli regional nuclear monopoly.

Iran (the constitutional monarchy), Iraq, Libya, Syria were only the first.

Not allowed to reach the nuclear state status, it is even less likely that the U.S. would tolerate an Iran with DEW orbiting the earth, able to strike Israel and Saudi Arabia without mentioning anywhere in the U.S. mainland, and all the U.S.' space assets.

4.3. The Outsider

Great powers that have been defeated at the end of the Second World War are excluded from the 1945 new world order.

No place for the ex-Axis powers in the U.N. permanent security council, the Elite Nuclear Club, Elite ASAT Club, or the Elite Manned Spacefaring Club.

That is at least in theory, as Japan, under the connivence and patronage of its U.S. overlord has effectively demonstrated both ICBM, ASAT and nuclear military capabilities.

Thus one should be aware that Japan could ounce again become an unofficial space DEW power anytime in the years to come.

4.3.1. Japan

The Empire of Japan was the first to develop anti-air high power microwave weapons during the Pacific war.
Nippon Radio Telegraph and Telephone Co., Ltd. has developped in 1939 the world’s first cavity magnetron, with punched positive copper pole, 10cm wave length and 500W power.

Research on microwave weapons（く号兵器） started on December 1936 at the Imperial Japanese Army Noborito Laboratory (陸軍登戸研究所).

Research on artificial lightning generator weapons（ら号兵器） by irradiating the sky with high intensity ultraviolet beams and ionization of the air, started on April 1938.

https://archive.fo/V3GBA/dbc7cfa97f1e5490153ce6edb84da7aba5a5a1a0.jpg ; https://i.imgur.com/qvRoak6.jpg ; http://web.archive.org/web/20170116...ge/1e/61/9027d3d1f5dadf4dfaf12bdacce7602d.jpg ; http://web.archive.org/web/20190810...ruribo0209/e/ae4059113f5cd2242b85e3735eec3db7 ; https://archive.fo/Vyo4N
▲ 26. Noborito Lab 9th Institute museum: some of the various directed energy weapons (microwave, UV, IR, Ultra sound, etc) and other automated/remote-controlled platforms research.

Anti-Aircraft EMF weapons rely on air ionization and breakup, that occurs with an EMF frequency of 9.37GHz, the peak power up to 200kW, pulse width from 0.3 to 2.0μs.

Second Naval Technology Factory Ushio Laboratory ruins (第二海軍技術廠牛尾実験所遺跡)

Coordinates:
34°51'23.8"N, 138°07'44.6"E
34.856607°N, 138.129065°E

https://www.google.com/maps/place/3...32m/data=!3m2!1e3!4b1!4m2!3m1!1s0x0:0x0?hl=en

Note: The site and all the concrete ruins have been removed circa February 28, 2015.

https://archive.fo/0GLgP/d0db040b4cbc3ca6bc0fb4df2f199566ea993c5e.jpg ; https://i.imgur.com/70HuDKy.jpg
▲ 27. Second Naval Technology Factory Ushio Laboratory ruins (第二海軍技術廠牛尾実験所遺跡)

Shimada Laboratory was dedicated to research on "death ray" during the war.

After the Battle of Midway, Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto advocated the need to develop new revolutionary weaponry. The "death ray" project was launched around June to August 1942. Construction work started around May 1943. With staff member of 1,457 people and 60 researchers.

Original plan was first to increase the ouptut power of the ultra-high frequency from the kW to hundreds of kW.

Nuclear power generator was expected to be used.

The basic design has been completed in 1944 around September, but it did not reach the stage of practical application, with a high-frequency radio wave output of 50kW using a 10 meters diameter parabolic reflector.

The whole project ended unfinished.

http://web.archive.org/web/20170116...or.blogimg.jp/shizuokak/imgs/8/a/8a60fe44.jpg ; http://web.archive.org/web/20160607072856/http://blog.livedoor.jp/shizuokak/archives/4794187.html ; https://archive.is/0rUGw
▲ 28. Very rare image of the 10 meters diameter parabolic reflector 50 kW output High-frequency radio wave. 昭和25年1月

▲ 29. The first excavation is expected to be conducted on the ruins of the "powerful radio wave weapon" developed by the former Navy. Published on Aug 14, 2013

As for the Imperial Japanese Navy, it began a nuclear propulsion for ships' feasibility study under the direction of Captain Yōji Itō at the Navy Technical Research Institute around January 1942.

Itō assembled a panel of experts, designated the “Committee for Research on the Application of Nuclear Physics (B-Research),”and invited Nishina to serve as chair.

The committee met ten or more times until March 1943, when the panel of experts concluded that Japan could not develop a nuclear weapon in time for the war. Itō disbanded the committee and turned his attention to developing electron weapons, including a “death ray.”

Therefore, to bypass the inherent limitations cause by atmospheric air ionization and breakup that caused a tremendous loss of power and limited the useful range of all electromagnetic frequencies (EMF) DEW to under several hundreds of meters to a few kilometers, the Empire of Japan started from 1943 to investigate DEW produced by particle accelerators (cyclotrons).

Nishina laboratory at RIKEN (Institute for Physical and Chemical Research) was the first to study electron-decaying particles for DEW, called Uchūsen weapons (宇宙線兵器).

On November 1944, the Empire of Japan started the launch of the world's first intercontinental weapons system.

With a wave of 9'300 transpacific fūsen bakudan (風船爆弾) or "windly vessel" sent 10'000 km away toward North America.

The program is known as Fu-Go (ふ号兵器), and the new platforms surf the powerful Kamikaze (神風: Divine Wind) stratospheric current (called afterwards jet streams in the West) that were discovered by Wasaburo Ooishi back in 1924, thus far above enemy interceptors altitude.

Conventional explosives alone were not enough for the Empire of Japan to defeat the U.S. and other Allies.

But DEW intercontinental stratospheric FUGOs would. As announced by the official Nipponese Domei news agency and reported on Monday 4th June 1945, large scale attacks with crewed gigantic stratospheric airships were to be expected soon!

One major hurdle was the imperative need to be able to weaponize an airborne particle accelerator reaching the threshold of >300 MeV to 500 MeV for protons/deuterons beam, needed to produce the first usefull class of electron-decaying particles.
The overall size and mass of the cyclotron, with the electromagnet alone weighting 220 tons, should have imperatively needed to be shrinked.
A more compact design, while able to reach even higher energy level could have been possible with the replacement of the single massive electromagnet at the core of Nishina's cyclotron, with several smaller and more powerfull magnets for bending the particle beams, while acceleration would have been produced by radiofrequency cavities (synchrocyclotron).


Today's post-WWII State of Japan has already mastered many of the prerequisites needed to place DEWs into space.

Its H-IIA can place 10 tons in LEO, the HIIB can place 16.5 tons into 410 km LEO.
The State of Japan has mastered rendez-vous and docking with its Kibo manned space module as well as KOUNOTORI unmanned cargo.

The State of Japan has already launched array of satellites such as the Quasi-Zenith Satellite System (QZSS) for its satellite-based augmentation system. From 4 satellites in 2018, the number will be increased to 7 satellites by 2024.

The State of Japan has mastered Adaptive Optics, such as the AO 188 Elements of the Subaru Telescope.

The State of Japan has studied fabrication process for large aperture lightweight silicon carbide mirror for space telescope.

The State of Japan has proposed placing 3.5 meters large aperture mirror space telescope into space.

The State of Japan is pursuing the development of high-output military laser.

5. Conclusion

By 2030, China forecasted with $64.2 trillion GDP (PPP), will lead the world, far ahead of India's second place with only $46.3 trillion, and more than double of the U.S.' $31 trillion at the third place.

Meanwhile, far behind with $7.9 trillion Russia will only rank 8th, along Japan's 9th place with $7.2 trillion.

While it is expected that in this coming decade, China will take the leading position in deploying an array of orbital DEW, by 2030, North Korea as China's best pupil should be able to catch up. An unified Korea under Kim Jong Un would easily match the Japanese's GDP.

All the other powers will have difficulties, due to lack of funding and lack of access to strategic rare earth raw materials.

http://web.archive.org/web/20190401024051if_/https://i.imgur.com/IIM2jia.jpg ; https://archive.fo/IHwzR/7b51a53273a60191dcaf3af219acc286d0c640d8.jpg ; https://i.imgur.com/IIM2jia.jpg ; https://defence.pk/pdf/attachments/...8/?temp_hash=886a8c3db40055848f83bf9e51e8b9d7
▲ 30. The Great Powers of the Next World Order: Pole Position for the DPRK in the space DEW arms race, key game-changer for opening-up the dawn of the Pax Coreana.

 

[Battle of Waterloo]

Iran to test new solar panels on Nahid 1 satellite: Minister

Iran's minister of communications says that country’s scientists will test a new technology for operating solar panels in the space once the Nahid 1 satellite is placed into orbit.

“This satellite ... will open its rotating solar cells during its mission and stay in the space which will be regarded as a great achievement for the country,” said Mohammad Javad Azari-Jahromi on Tuesday, according to remarks covered in ISNA news agency.

The minister further said that Nahid 1 will be handed over to Iran’s defense ministry “in the upcoming days” for a long-anticipated launch in a near future.

He added that the spacecraft will orbit 250 kilometers above earth, adding that it could stay in the space for a maximum of two and a half years.

Azari Jahromi, who was in the central Iranian city of Saveh for a working visit, said that Nahid 1 had successfully passed its final tests and a launch date will be announced subsequently by Iranian defense officials.

https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2019/08/13/603466/Iran-satellite-launch-Nahid-solar-panels

 

[TheImmortal]

Iran to test new solar panels on Nahid 1 satellite: Minister

Iran's minister of communications says that country’s scientists will test a new technology for operating solar panels in the space once the Nahid 1 satellite is placed into orbit.

“This satellite ... will open its rotating solar cells during its mission and stay in the space which will be regarded as a great achievement for the country,” said Mohammad Javad Azari-Jahromi on Tuesday, according to remarks covered in ISNA news agency.

The minister further said that Nahid 1 will be handed over to Iran’s defense ministry “in the upcoming days” for a long-anticipated launch in a near future.

He added that the spacecraft will orbit 250 kilometers above earth, adding that it could stay in the space for a maximum of two and a half years.

Azari Jahromi, who was in the central Iranian city of Saveh for a working visit, said that Nahid 1 had successfully passed its final tests and a launch date will be announced subsequently by Iranian defense officials.

https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2019/08/13/603466/Iran-satellite-launch-Nahid-solar-panels

Iran doesn’t even have an SLV that can put something at a 250KM orbit.

 

[Battle of Waterloo]

Iran doesn’t even have an SLV that can put something at a 250KM orbit.

This says Fajr satellite (similar weight to Nahid 1) was launched into a 224km x 470km orbit

https://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/fajr.htm

What am I missing?