Iran's First Astronaut: Alternative Path

[Galactic Penguin SST]

As Iran domestic manned space program has been postponed for many years, there is now another more likely possibility, an alternative path that could allow to see an Iranian astronaut going into space in less than five years.

Africa's Space Dream


August 23, 2019

WINDHOEK, Aug. 22 -- Students at Namibia's University of Science and Technology (NUST) have called for more investments in science and technology following a visit by Chinese astronauts.

Liu Yang and Chen Dong, who are in Namibia on a five-day visit, had an opportunity to engage in face to face interactions with the NUST students on Thursday.

The interactions focused on awareness in the development of space science and technology as the Chinese duo shared their experience in space through photographs and videos while entertaining various questions posed by the students.

Leuan van Kent, a 24-year-old senior in Engineering Electronics and Telecommunications at NUST, told Xinhua that he was impressed by the Space Talk session, during which Liu Yang, China's first female astronaut in space, revealed that she had wanted to be a bus driver, but ended up being an astronaut.

"The sky is the limit, who knows it might not be long before we have our very own Namibian astronauts explore space," Van Kent said.

According to him, for Namibia to achieve this, the government or industry players need to invest more in education and training, especially at the Namibian Institute of Space Technology (NIST), which is housed at NUST.

The role of NIST is to produce competent graduates that will play leading roles in the field of space technology as well as contribute to the societal improvement of life by the effective application of satellite applications and technology, amongst others.

"We all know it is expensive, but we can start one step at a time. For instance, we currently host the Chinese satellite tracking station in Swakopmund and through that, we can further learn and train locals," he added.

David John, a computer science senior, said the session with the astronauts was an eye-opener.

"I believe Namibia should not be left behind and hopefully one day we can 'tangle with the stars,' when we have our very own home-made astronaut," he added.

Geomatics student Laameni Haininga said she would like to see Namibia also send a female astronaut to space.

"I myself would not mind following in Yang's footsteps as she has inspired me. One never knows maybe one day I will be in her shoes," she added.

The event was attended by Chinese Ambassador to Namibia Zhang Yiming, Namibia's Deputy Minister of Higher Education, Training and Innovation Becky Ndjoze-Ojo and NUST officials.

Currently, the two countries enjoy cooperation in the science and technology field as Namibia hosts the China Telemetry, Tracking and Command Station, which tracks the re-entry of Chinese manned space vehicles.

http://web.archive.org/web/20190824...e/pic/BIG/20190823/71/3752852365273877847.jpg ; https://archive.fo/phgH8/403731c2a9516bc6077e86792c404bc2d8a514a4.jpg ; http://web.archive.org/web/20190824114419/http://en.people.cn/n3/2019/0823/c90000-9608623.html ; http://archive.fo/9LPlm
▲ 1. Chinese astronauts, an inspiration for the African youth.

http://web.archive.org/web/20190824...e/pic/BIG/20190823/27/7200987684272219939.jpg ; https://archive.fo/x3LFF/181707d4795ede6287e8e4c9ce1fcf72eb026859.jpg ; http://web.archive.org/web/20190824114419/http://en.people.cn/n3/2019/0823/c90000-9608623.html ; http://archive.fo/9LPlm
▲ 2. Chinese astronauts, an inspiration for the African youth.

http://web.archive.org/web/20190824114419/http://en.people.cn/n3/2019/0823/c90000-9608623.html
http://archive.fo/9LPlm


Commentary

It is obvious that if any African nation wants to see one of its astronauts sent into space, it will not be with the Europeans!

Indeed, these leeches only have abduction and a one way trip to the the nearest slave plantation in the Americas aboard a slave ship to offer!

http://web.archive.org/web/20190824120112/https://cdn.britannica.com/07/182907-050-C67CF42C.jpg ; https://archive.fo/7uuz9/7e76769387ca70bca497ffe7afe098c6932e050e.jpg ; http://web.archive.org/save/https:/...nsatlantic-slave-trade/media/1/1913480/199340 ; http://archive.fo/ajKxS
▲ 3. Europe: the darkest hours of Africa.

Meanwhile, China as the only trusted and time-proven friend of Africa can surely provide all the trainings, as suggested in the report, and access to the Chinese Tiangong Space Station, along a safe return home, aboard one of its Shenzhou space ship!

With the rise of China and within a decade, under the Pax Sinica, or China Century, access to space will no longer be the sole monopoly of the white Europeans.

Soon, we will see Pakistani, Namibian, Venezuelan, Thai, Philipino, Lao, Cambodian, Bolivian and Nigerian astronauts soaring to the sky and paying courtesy visits to the Tiangong Space Station, one after the other!

http://web.archive.org/web/20190824121816/https://pbs.twimg.com/media/ECkqyO4UEAA0iTV.jpg ; https://archive.is/0JMHO/d89de03cda89c0cbb0b6e6ce9cd3d0a59decd381.jpg
▲ 4. Chinese Tiangong Space Station: a space palace for mankind.
​

The Chinese Space Station's first two modules are already completed, only awaiting to be launched into space by late 2020 and early 2021.

And being even more spacious than the old Russian Mir Space Station!

Chinese Tianhe Vs Soviet MIR

7:54 PM - 29 Aug 2019

Just a demonstration of proportions. You can clearly see both the equipment (centre) and living compartments (right) are longer. Also the larger volume of the forward multi docking hub.

http://web.archive.org/web/20190831145959/https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EDL5IR1U8AInEpW.jpg ; https://archive.fo/QbtR8/879ca154f7821798774f2fb9ba6d1456a4a9d19a.jpg ; https://twitter.com/ShuttleAlmanac/status/1167269256976719873
▲ 5. Chinese Tianhe Vs Soviet MIR space station module.


Iran's Space Agency is already collaborating with China as a member of the Asia-Pacific Space Cooperation Organization (APSCO).

Iran should ponder wisely, as Pakistan has already started the process of astronaut selection. Two years are required to complete an astronaut training. Therefore now, it is only a question of diplomacy between President Hassan Rouhani and Xi Jinping.

http://web.archive.org/web/20190916000040/https://i.imgur.com/oxBfQXd.jpg ; https://media.mehrnews.com/d/2019/04/14/4/3100278.jpg ; http://web.archive.org/web/20190916...Space-Agency-collaborating-with-APSCO-Project
▲ 6. Iranian Astronomers at the Iranian Space Agency posing in front of the Chinese 500 m aperture radio telescope.

 

[TruthHurtz]

Hitch hiking on a Chinese launcher is boring, uninnovative and lazy.

Iran should stick with their own carriers, even if progress is slow.

 

[Kastor]

We've already had the first Iranian in space....Mrs. Ansari. Ever heard of the X-prize? Also she was the first space tourist.

 

[Galactic Penguin SST]

We've already had the first Iranian in space....Mrs. Ansari. Ever heard of the X-prize? Also she was the first space tourist.

Stop spreading looser's delusion.

Not even in the eyes of the President of the Islamic Republic of Iran!

I am ready to be the first Iranian in space: Ahmadinejad

TEHRAN, Feb. 4, 2013 (MNA) – Iran's president said on the sidelines of a visit to the exhibition of space achievements and said; “sending living things to space is the result of Iranian efforts and dedication of thousands of Iranian professional scientists.”

Ahmadinejad remembered martyr Tehrani Moghadam and said; “I am ready to be the first human to be sent to space by Iranian scientists,”

https://archive.fo/hEfgs/25d0b9b25e3c496c2bc4b78ea23d355e0e482d55.jpg ; http://static.hypercomments.com/data/images2/guest/1491985747695202 https://www.mehrnews.com/en/newsdetail.aspx?NewsID=1808372
▲ 1. President Ahmadinejad ready to be the first Iranian in space!

https://www.mehrnews.com/en/newsdetail.aspx?NewsID=1808372
​

 

[Galactic Penguin SST]

The wording has changed, as Minister of Communications and Information Technology Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi has stated on 6th October 2019, in a ceremony held on the occasion of World Space Week (October 4-10), that "Iran will send an astronaut into space in the future in cooperation with other countries".

Reference:
http://www.iran-daily.com/News/259773.html ; http://archive.is/nwaAJ
https://en.mehrnews.com/news/150842/Iran-to-send-astronaut-to-space-communications-min ; http://archive.fo/IF7SX
https://irannewsdaily.com/2019/10/iran-to-send-astronaut-to-space/ ; http://archive.fo/ezqmt



This could be interpreted as either sending an Iranian astronaut aboard China's Tiangong Space Station, fast as the first module will be orbited in 2020, cheap as it would be totally free of charge, and safe.

Or with North Korea's cooperation aboard the E1 spacecraft, but both nations are still rookies in that field.

In this regard, North Korea has hinted on Monday 7th October 2019, at a possible space launch, in its race for space supremacy:

Scramble rages for military supremacy in space

France, Iran and many other countries competitively made public their aerospace projects and press on with them in a planned manner.

Experts comment that though the world’s major countries compete in the field of outer space, they have observed the treaty on outer space by and large and have not yet positioned weapons of destruction in outer space. However, the US is triggering a new arms race by extending from the earth to outer space in order to dominate it and compelling other countries to be involved in it, they assert.

Reference:
http://www.pyongyangtimes.com.kp/ ; http://archive.fo/ydKiV
http://web.archive.org/web/20191006170527/http://www.pyongyangtimes.com.kp/?bbs=31621 ; http://archive.fo/oek3Y

​

 

[Rafi]

Iran and Pakistan should cooperate with China, it is the way forward.

 

[skyshadow]

Iran and Pakistan should cooperate with China, it is the way forward.

China dose not cooperate with Iran but you should have gotten a cooperation agreement by now.

 

[Rafi]

China dose not cooperate with Iran but you should have gotten a cooperation agreement by now.

They should in fact both Iran and Pakistan should cooperate with them.

 

[un4given.1991]

thanks for this cool Avatar

 

[Galactic Penguin SST]

Iran's manned space capsule

Note : Official Picture

​

Iran has publicly said it plans to send a human into space by 2019. Tal Inbar, head of Israel's Space Research Center of the Fisher Institute for Air and Space Strategic Studies, noted: "Up to now we had not seen an image of what an Iranian manned spacecraft might look like. Now at the 63rd International Astronautical Congress (IAC) in Naples, Iran had posters on display with a manned spacecraft on it".

Here again a new view of the three seaters orbital manned spacecraft first disclosed in 2012, during the 63rd International Astronautical Congress (IAC) in Naples. Initially due to be launched sometimes after 2019.

Seen on the occasion of the 2019 world’s Space Week, during a news conference of Iran’s Space Research Center and Iran’s Space Agency, shortly referred to as ISA.

The three seaters orbital manned spacecraft return module is represented attached to the orbital module (note that it is not a stage adapter as wrongly described by the Fishy Institute).

This only hints at some great progress made in the development of the E1 single seater suborbital manned spacecraft. Keeping in mind that today 8th October 2019, North Korea has disclosed its upcoming future space launch in a KCTV video.

https://archive.fo/aYll2/34e705f562551806275eb24ae78b89b5ab7cca90.jpg ; https://archive.fo/aYll2/b7602f817588daab01b716afb27237b015f609bb/scr.png ; http://soheilesy.persiangig.com/image/SATL/Capsule.jpg ; https://defence.pk/pdf/threads/irans-manned-space-capsule.225022/#post-3707971
▲ 1. Iran's three seaters orbital manned spacecraft first disclosed in 2012.

https://archive.is/Hs5Yg/f25c9aae8eb0e242ef1f6a8096f45babf4c12c98.png ; https://archive.is/Hs5Yg/ace0d5096b3c53ca8ffbb2443c90f148019ceb03/scr.png ; http://web.archive.org/web/20191008...rates-latest-achievements-Iran-space-industry ; http://archive.fo/2C3gu
▲ 2. Iran's three seaters orbital manned spacecraft as represented in a 2019 world’s Space Week poster.

 

[VEVAK]

Buying a ticket to space just to say you sent a man to space is both absurd and a complete waist of money! It's nothing but an absurdity! The Russians under the USSR did that for Afghanistan decades ago, UAE just recently did that,..... IT IS ABSURD!
Unless China, Russia, Iran and a few other countries are joining in to fund a new Joint Space Station with joint technology transferrers and joint launch from both inside and outside your own soil that's one thing but if your talking nothing more than an expensive ride to space that utterly ABSURD! And Iran's Space Agency or the remnants of it should be ASHAMED for even suggesting it!

These morons the Rohani Administration has given power to are either utter MORONS or true TRAITORS!

 

[Galactic Penguin SST]

Iranian long period stay in space

India plans to have its own separate space station in the future to allow extended period of stay in space. India will not join the International Space Station (ISS).

Notice that the Iranian orbital spacecraft is fitted with a docking system.

An indigenous space lab would require years to develop.

The U.S. will certainly bar Iran from accessing to the ISS like it did with China.

This means that in the short term, Iran can only dock with the Chinese Space Station.

China prepares for space station construction

October 17, 2019

China is preparing for the upcoming high-density space missions to construct China's space station, and the Long March-5B carrier rocket, set to launch capsules for the space station, is expected to make its maiden flight in 2020.

China aims to complete the construction of the space station around 2022. Weighing 66 tonnes, the Tiangong space station will be T-shaped with the Tianhe core module at the center and the Wentian and Mengtian experiment capsules on each side.

The station, which will orbit 340 to 450 km above the Earth's surface, could be enlarged to 180 tonnes if required and accommodate three to six astronauts. It is designed to last at least 10 years and could be prolonged through in-orbit maintenance, according to Zhou Jianping.

After the construction of the station is completed, China welcomes overseas astronauts to work together with domestic astronauts aboard China's space station. International spacecraft can also be docked with China's space station if they use a Chinese docking mechanism, Zhou said.

http://en.people.cn/n3/2019/1017/c90000-9623982.html
​

 

[Galactic Penguin SST]

The prediction made recently is now confirmed. Following France's path, Iran seems to be abandoning for the time being any hope of sending a man into space by its own effort.

And instead of a 'space tourist' aboard the E1 suborbital capsule, Iran will try to send a 'scientist' to conduct real research work on the International Space Station.

This will require to pay Russia for all the costs including the training of the scientist, the return trip to the ISS and the long stay sojourn.

Just like the first French cosmonaut in space, Jean-Loup Chrétien who boarded on 24th June 1982 the Soyuz-T6 spacecraft, that docked with the Salyut-7 space station.

Iran Working on Sending Scientists to Space

Tue Dec 31, 2019 5:18

Barari said today that the ISA has commenced plans for cooperation with what he called an ‘advanced country’ to send scientist astronauts to space.

“The talks are underway, and we hope to reach an agreement with one of the countries to commence the project.”

Barari declined to name the country with which the ISA is in talks about the project before the talks have been finalized.

“With the cooperation of this country, we are aiming to send a scientist-astronaut instead of a space tourist. Our goal is to participate in international projects; that is, to have an Iranian scientist present in the Earth's orbit or a space station to take part in international research projects,” he added.

“The process of talks must be carried out fully. Once done, we will announce the schedule for the implementation of the project in the near future,” he said.

http://web.archive.org/web/20200101005158/https://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13981010000987
http://archive.ph/JVvXw
​

And indeed, the waiting list of all those who are lining up for a first manned suborbital flight is too long indeed, and requires foremost a green light to receive the go-ahead, which Iran lacks.

To wait for its turn would mean an Iranian indigenous suborbital launch only after 2025 at the earliest!

The waiting list, incomplete as of 1st January 2020:

• North Korea
Hwasong-15 manned suborbital launcher (payload capacity of several 100 of kg in LEO)
Unha-9 manned orbital launcher (able to place 3'000 kg into LEO)

• Turkey
DeltaV's manned suborbital launcher (payload capacity of several 100 of kg in LEO)
Roketsan's Simsek manned orbital launcher (able to place 1'500 kg into LEO)

• Japan
Interstellar Technologies' Zero SLV, as a manned suborbital launcher (payload capacity of several 100 of kg in LEO)

• Iran
Safir-1D manned suborbital launcher (payload capacity of under 100 kg in LEO)

http://archive.ph/Ha5TW/70f3557d22c104794a2e8a9eef4e163a29c1e940.png ; https://archive.ph/Ha5TW/82ec45505c6bfff64a2c1e7eb92743275ff54aad/scr.png ; http://web.archive.org/web/20191231005858/https://i.imgur.com/1EQrjoa.png
▲ 2. U.S. Redstone-Mercury, North Korean Hwasong-15 and Unha-9, Turkish DeltaV's SLV and Roketsan's Simsek, Japanese Interstellar Technologies' Zero, Iranian Safir-1D.

 

[Galactic Penguin SST]

Totally agree, team North-Korea-Iran will certainly be the 4th to return a man alive from space, because the above armies of foolish troll simply don't realize what is at stake.

Here the reason. Because unlike India, it is a pressing question of existential survival.

No surprise that Iran took the decision to command 5 manned spacecrafts only after the brutal killing by the Trump's administration of martyred Lieutenant General Ghasem Soleimani.

The second most powerful figure in the Iranian hierarchy.

This manned space program is the most costly one, deemed unnecessary extravaganza by India, but on the contrary it is intended to achieve a credible nuclear deterrence for Iran. Therefore the same will by North Korea to make the the heaviest sacrifice.

Peeking under the shroud of North Korea’s Monster Missile

November 5, 2020

Some unresolved questions surround the huge new mobile missiles that North Korea showed off in last month’s parade. Most of all: what will they carry, and when will the North Koreans reveal it through flight-testing?

Let’s start with what we can observe. The external characteristics of the weapon are consistent with a two-stage, liquid-propelled ICBM. In many ways, it’s similar to the Hwasong-15, which North Korea tested in 2017, but on a larger scale. My CNS colleagues estimate that the new missile is about 25 m long, compared to the roughly 20 m-long HS-15. It has a first stage of about 2.4 m [3 m] in diameter, compared to the approximately 2.1 m [2.4 m] diameter of the HS-15.

Like the HS-15, the Monster Missile features a “skirt” at the base of its first stage, suggesting a cluster of gimbaled engines, and an evocatively named “shroud” over its payload section at the front. That’s a hollow cover that pops off after the missile leaves the atmosphere, allowing whatever the missile carries to deploy.

As Mike Elleman and Vann van Diepen were quick to observe, the HS-15 already appears capable of sending a heavy payload to anyplace on the mainland of these United States. It follows that the new missile wasn’t built for greater range, but to carry a bigger, heavier payload. Which means… what?

Even before the parade, veteran intelligence analysts Markus Garlauskas and Bruce Perry noted that the logical next step for the North Korean ICBM program would be to deploy multi-warhead missiles in order to thwart U.S. missile defenses. Ensuring that North Korea’s nuclear weapons can penetrate the American “shield” may be what Kim Jong Un meant when he said in 2017 that “our final goal is to establish the equilibrium of real force [or “effective balance of power”] with the U.S. and make the U.S. rulers dare not talk about [a] military option for the DPRK.”

The U.S. pioneered the multiple reentry vehicle (MRV) concept in the early 1960s, followed by the multiple independently targetable reentry vehicle (MIRV). The Soviet Union caught up with their own versions within a decade or so. You could think of MRV as nuclear grapeshot, spraying a handful of bombs across one area. MIRV is more precise and more adaptable; it involves a small rocket engine called a post-boost vehicle, or “bus,” that pushes each warhead it carries onto a selected course, sending them to different targets if desired.

Some combination of multiple warheads and missile-defense countermeasures–chaff, decoys, and so forth–has become the favorite in this morbid little guessing game. If they’re ambitious, perhaps the North Koreans might be trying to replicate Britain’s Chevaline payload, which was designed to let its Polaris missiles thwart nuclear-tipped interceptors placed around Moscow. Chevaline was a two-warhead system with a post-boost vehicle that dispensed countermeasures into various patterns in space. It’s also rather well-documented today, as these things go.

There’s another possibility that I’ve yet to see explored at length, though. Let’s call it a dark horse. It’s another approach to beating missile defense, and one that requires a heavy payload, but no more than a single warhead per missile. That’s the fractional orbital bombardment system (FOBS).

FOBS was a Soviet innovation, brought to fruition in the mid-1960s, before the USSR developed its own multiple-warhead missiles. It involved a modified ICBM that launched its payload into low earth orbit. When the payload approached its target, an onboard retro-rocket would fire, deorbiting the warhead.

The advantage of FOBS was its ability to circumvent NORAD’s lines of early-warning radars in Canada. The FOBS weapon could be launched in any direction, allowing the USSR to launch an attack over the South Pole if desired.

Today’s early-warning radars don’t just provide warning; they also supply crucial data to the Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD). These radars are located in Alaska, Greenland, the UK, California, and Massachusetts, pointing north, west, and east, whereas the interceptors themselves are mostly in Alaska, waiting for an attack from the north. Thus, the same old FOBS concept remains applicable. It’s even enjoying new life in Russia, whose president has said that the Sarmat multi-warhead missile can attack over either the North or the South Pole.

With the ability to attack in FOBS mode, North Korea could compel the United States to an unhappy choice: either build what amounts to a substantially new, south-facing defensive architecture, or accept that it cannot physically prevent nuclear attack from Pyongyang, even under the sunniest of assumptions about GMD’s performance.

Even if North Korea is building a FOBS today, its leaders probably anticipate a transition to MIRV in time, following the Soviet precedent. But FOBS could have certain advantages for now. First, the technology simply might be more rapidly attainable. Second, sticking with just one warhead per missile demands less fissile material. Third, it also avoids creating pressure to return to nuclear testing to demonstrate the smaller, lighter warheads most suited to MRV or MIRV. Fourth, being able to deorbit a payload essentially anywhere means that North Korea could finally conduct a fully realistic and instrumented test of an intercontinental-class reentry vehicle on its own territory, or close to its own shores; they’d just have to fly one all the way around the world.

There’s an uncomfortably large chance that we’ll find out soon what the Monster Missile hides under that shroud. A transition to a Biden administration on January 20, 2021 gives Kim Jong Un an incentive to try to demonstrate the existence of an “effective balance of power” beforehand, since it might strengthen his hand without directly challenging the newly inaugurated president. Kim has set the 8th Workers’ Party Congress for January as well; the success of a “new strategic weapon”–either real success or merely alleged–could set the stage for changes in governing structures and the direction of policy.

Whatever does happen, I can’t see any benefits from sitting back and waiting for North Korea to demonstrate the ability to overcome GMD by whatever means. That will mean bargaining for the reaffirmation of Kim Jong Un’s April 2018 pledge not to test long-range missiles or nuclear devices, which he declared a dead letter in January of this year. How that will work will be up to the new team in Washington, but the sooner they decide on their approach, the better.

Peeking under the shroud of North Korea’s Monster Missile

www.armscontrolwonk.com

​

In a nutshell, by deorbiting a spacecraft of the size of a nuclear warhead, that is a mass of 1.5 tonnes, and make sure its survives the atmospheric reentry, North Korea would demonstrate its capability to field fractional orbital bombardment system (FOBS), the only strategy that can currently beat the U.S.' NORAD’s lines of early-warning radars in Canada.

Therefore achieving a credible nuclear deterrence.

This means the quickest the better, an orbital spaceflight by 2024, but a suborbital mission by 2022!

To sum up:

• The launch of the Kwangmyongsong-1 satellite was a mean to test the validity of the Moksong-1 ICBM. Technologies validated: 32-tf thrust Hwasong-7 rocket engine, high altitude rocket nozzle, rocket staging, hot and cold stage separations, orbital insertion, under 50 kg orbital payload, etc..
• The launch of the Kwangmyongsong-2 to Kwangmyongsong-4 satellites were a mean to test the Moksong-2 ICBM. Technologies validated: gimballed steering vernier engines, cluster of 37-tf thrust Hwasong-7 rocket engines, under 500 kg orbital payload, etc
• The launch of the Kwangmyongsong-5 satellite will be a mean to test the Moksong-3 ICBM (aka Hwasong-16). Technologies to be validated: multiple fully gimballed 80-tf Paektusan-1D rocket engines, under 2'000 kg orbital payload, etc
• The future launch of the the E1 manned spacecraft will test the reentry vehicle's supersonic atmospheric survival
• And the future orbital insertion followed by deorbiting of the E1 manned spacecraft will test the final missing technology needed for completing a FOBS system

https://archive.vn/XOGD7/8d8d00864fe2412055550adb3b14aae89b93baae.jpg ; https://archive.vn/XOGD7/ddd76a5199c5efcfedd94bc16a9741f6aec54d70/scr.png ; http://web.archive.org/web/20201105181159/https://pbs.twimg.com/media/El_mE0IXEAwCLuZ?format=jpg&name=4096x4096 ; https://twitter.com/TheDEWLine/status/1324030307088171008
▲ 1. NORAD vs the DPRK FOBS.

https://defence.pk/pdf/threads/which-nation-will-be-the-4th-to-join-the-elite-club-of-spacefaring-nations.598244/post-12789382

Finally revealed, why Iran is poised to relaunch its indigenous manned space program.

Indeed, the first mention of a fractional orbital bombardment system (FOBS) were disclosed as earlier as 2012.

Super Paektusan FOB ICBM

2012/04/28 [19:59]

The 400-ton "Super Proton Paektusan" ICBM should have infinite-range strike capabilities, as a fractional-orbit missile (FOBS)
Such a missile provides some advantages over a conventional ICBM. The range is limited only by the parameters of the orbit that the re-entry vehicle has been placed into, and the re-entry vehicle may come from either direction.

After launch it would go into a low Earth orbit and would then de-orbit for an attack. It had no range limit and the orbital flight path would not reveal the target location. This would allow a path to North America over the South Pole, hitting targets from the south, [thus the polar launch test conducted by Korea and Iran in 13 April 2012] which is the opposite direction from which NORAD early warning systems are oriented.

http://www.hinews.asia/sub_read.html?uid=1783&section=sc1

http://www.minjok.com/news/news_view.php?code=37134

​

While it is certain that dummies will be seated inside the Iranian E1 spacecrafts including in low earth orbit flights, it might leave the honour to North Korea to risk the life of an astronaut in the spacecraft!

Indeed, a failure would be an unnecessary and avoidable public relations disaster. Knowing that Iran is suffering from a rather volatile domestic support, too often prone to riot, unlike North Korea's monolithic single minded unity. The FOBS being the real goal.

Meanwhile, as the International Space Station (ISS) was a quasi exclusive club for ethnic Europeans, Iran being a founding member of the China-lead Asia-Pacific Space Cooperation Organization (APSCO), it will have the right as a full member, to access the future Chinese Space Station.

That is the only one to be international not only in name, but really open to all nations and ethnicities of the world!

https://archive.vn/36ACj/20d160186bf205b230dd32efa05528391c9a8c08.jpg ; https://archive.vn/36ACj/53abca34eaae66cbb26e4c297c9166ffe8e4eecb/scr.png ; http://web.archive.org/web/20201106173644/https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DfgeKvKW0AEFWDA?format=jpg&name=large
▲ 1. International Space Station: a quasi exclusive club for ethnic Europeans.

https://archive.is/ELZhj/7c09d79483d9aa0955b55f296b827dcfd491e45a.png ; https://archive.is/ELZhj/669f19b94972e228574c129d90603302b8724132/scr.png ; http://web.archive.org/web/20201106173537/https://i.imgur.com/wmidOzJ.png
▲ 2. Chinese Space Station: the real international space station giving access to space for all humankind.

 

[Galactic Penguin SST]

Indeed Iran has good teachers when trying to develop FOBS through a manned space program!

Soviet R-36 (8K69, OR-36, R-36orb) Fractional Orbital Bombing System

The R-36-O was the only orbiting military nuclear weapon ever deployed, although in order to remain legal under international treaties it was a 'fractional orbital' weapon, 18 missiles were operational from 1969 to 1983.



The 8F021 orbiting warhead had the Russian acronym OGCh. It consisted of an 8F673 orbital module, and fixed on top of it the re-entry vehicle.

The 8F673 orbital module was an equipment unit which oriented the spacecraft in orbit and autonomously determined when to make the braking maneuver to bring the re-entry vehicle down from orbit.

The 8F673 orbital module included an inertial navigation system and a radar altimeter which measured the altitude of the orbit and thereby determined when to make the braking maneuver. A solid fuel cartridge then spun up the turbine assembly of the liquid propellant (N2O4/UDMH) braking engine. Orientation was by 4 + 4 thrusters using turbine exhaust gases.

LEO Payload: 1'700 kg to a 150 km orbit. Standard warhead: 1'700 kg. Maximum range: 40'000 km. Number Standard Warheads: 1. Standard RV: 8F021. Warhead yield: 5'000 KT. CEP: 1.10 km. Boost Propulsion: Storable liquid rocket, N2O4/UDMH. Cruise Thrust: 940.400 kN. Cruise Thrust: 95'900 kgf. Cruise engine: RD-252. Initial Operational Capability: 1969.

Stage Data - R-36-O

• Stage 1. 1 x R-36-0-1. Gross Mass: 125'000 kg. Empty Mass: 8'500 kg. Thrust (vac): 2'640.000 kN. Isp: 301 sec. Burn time: 120 sec. Isp(sl): 269 sec. Diameter: 3.00 m. Span: 3.00 m. Length: 18.90 m. Propellants: N2O4/UDMH. No Engines: 1. Engine: RD-251.
• Stage 2. 1 x R-36-0-2. Gross Mass: 48'000 kg. Empty Mass: 5'000 kg. Thrust (vac): 955.991 kN. Isp: 317 sec. Burn time: 160 sec. Diameter: 3.00 m. Span: 3.00 m. Length: 9.40 m. Propellants: N2O4/UDMH. No Engines: 1. Engine: RD-252.

R-36O 8K69

R-36O 8K69

www.astronautix.com

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▲ 1. 8К69 (SS-9 Mod 3) was the first orbiting military nuclear weapon deployed by the U.S.S.R.

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▲ 2. The 1'700 kg 8F021 orbiting warhead had the Russian acronym OGCh。

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▲ 3. The 1'700 kg 8F021 orbiting warhead had the Russian acronym OGCh。

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▲ 4. Soviet 8F673 orbital module。


Chinese DF-6 (东风六号导弹) Fractional Orbital Bombing System

The cancelled Chinese DF-6 FOBS ICBM (东风六号导弹) developed starting from November 1966, was made of 3 stages, all burning liquid propellants. The first stage could produce a thrust of 400 tonnes at liftoff, carrying a 3'200 kg orbiting warhead.

The maximum range was 31'000 km, the length 45 m, the total mass 270 tonnes.

The DF-6 was an uprated DF-5.

The DF-6 missile was to carry the first Chinese manned spacecraft Shuguang-1, and the first GEO satellite.

Prototype of the spaceraft and spacesuit were developed, astronaut selection process also started.

First launch of the spacecraft was expected by 1975.


The program was cancelled on 28 March 1974, due to economic difficulties.

Disclosing China's Dongfeng 6 missile: with range three times that of the Dongfeng 41, project ultimately cancelled

May 31, 2018 10:16 Sina Military

In China's ballistic missile family, intercontinental missiles have always been the most mysterious and attracting the most attention.

Among the models that have been disclosed so far, the heaviest is the Dongfeng-5B liquid intercontinental strategic nuclear missile.

The Dongfeng-5 ballistic missile was developed by China in the 1970s, but what is less known is that China was preparing to develop a missile named Dongfeng-6.

Dongfeng-6 was a three-stage liquid missile with a staggering maximum range of 31'000 kilometers, a total length of 45 meters, and a maximum take-off weight of 270 tons.

The multi-warheads FOBS ICBM was underground silo-launched.

In that era, this kind of missile with a range of tens of thousands of kilometers had a proud name: Orbiting Missile (环球导弹).

As early as the 1960s, the Soviet Union had been equipped with an Orbiting Missile, which was the R-36O, an improved R-36 missile (NATO codename SS-9).

The missile had a launch weight of 181 tons, a diameter of 3.05 meters, and used liquid fuel.

Compared with other types of R-36 missiles, the missile mainly had an added third-stage, which could send a warhead into the earth's orbit, heading toward the southern hemisphere after passing the south pole, and attack from the south where the United States did not have a missile warning system at the time.

The R-36O has a maximum range of 40'000 kilometers. It began to be deployed in 1968. Since then, it has been tested twice a year to show the United States that the Soviet Union had the capability to use this missile and also verify its reliability.

Perhaps it is precisely because of the Soviet Union's Orbiting Missile that China decided to develop such class of intercontinental ballistic missile in the last century. Stimulated by the Soviet R-36O, China also devised its own Orbiting Missile plan.

This was the Dongfeng 6 mentioned at the beginning of the article.

In December 1966, the National Defense Science and Technology Commission agreed to include the Dongfeng-6 in the development plan.

In November 1967, the National Defense Science and Technology Commission held a Dongfeng-6 Orbiting Missile program demonstration meeting, which clarified the main tactical and technical specifications.

At the same time, the Dongfeng-6 space launch vehicle plan for carrying the first manned spacecraft Shuguang-1 (Dawn-1:曙光一号) of the country's along the first geosynchronous orbit satellite was planned.

A lot of technical coordination works were conducted many times.

In 1970, the National Defense Science and Technology Commission proposed to Premier Zhou Enlai and the Central Military Commission the Request for Instructions on the Development of Manned Spacecraft and Communication Satellites (Draft), and proposed the Shuguang-1 manned spacecraft (code name 714 project) with place for two astronauts, and flight time up to eight days in orbit. The plan was scheduled for the first unmanned spacecraft to be launched in 1973 and the maiden manned spacecraft in 1974.

The launch vehicle of the Shuguang-1 was to be the Dongfeng-6 Orbiting Missile.

In 1971, the Seventh Ministry of Machinery reported the Preliminary Development Plan for Dongfeng-6 to the National Defense Science and Technology Commission.

In this plan, it was clear that the range of the Dongfeng-6 would be 16'000 to 31'000 kilometers.

However, when the Dongfeng-6 missile was developed, the technical specifications proposed and the related technologies planned to be adopted were too advanced.

The plug nozzle engine belong to a class of altitude compensating nozzles, such a new class of engine planned to be used then has not even entered actual use until today.

Dongfeng-6 was a three-stage rocket. The first stage used a conventional 400-ton high-thrust engine, the second stage used an altitude compensating nozzle engine, and the third stage was a post-boost vehicle.

Each stages of this three-stage rocket used different rocket engines, making technical challenges too difficult.

By investing more time on the DF-6, it would have definitely affected the development of the equally important Dongfeng-5.

On 28th March 1974, the Seventh Ministry of Machinery informed the First Academy that, according to the instructions of the Deputy Director of the National Defense Science and Technology Commission Qian Xuesen, the National Defense Science and Technology Commission decided to stop the development of the Dongfeng-6.

Prior to this, the development of the Shuguang-1 manned spacecraft project had also begun to slow down.

In fact, Dongfeng-6 is not an intercontinental missile in the traditional sense, but a FOBS (Fractional Orbital Bombing System) missile system, also known as an Orbiting Missile.

FOBS is usually on standby on the ground, and when used, it is launched into earth orbit. After the rocket second stage is separated, according to ground instructions, the retro-rockets of the PBV are fired sending it into a deorbiting orbit into the atmosphere.

Because it only achieves a fraction of a complete orbit before reentering the atmosphere, it is called a fractional orbital bombing system.

However, if the developement of the Dongfeng-6 project had the conditions to continue, it should still be able to succeed.

After all, in terms of overall technical level, the Dongfeng-6 is equivalent to an uprated version of the Dongfeng-5.

Even if it did not place nuclear warheads in orbit, it could have been used in civilian manned spaceflight.

If the development of the Dongfeng-6 had not been cancelled, China's first manned spaceflight would not have taken place only in 2003, but 25 years earlier.

东风六号导弹_百度百科

“东风6号”并非传统意义上的洲际导弹，而是一种FOBS导弹系统，又被称为轨道轰炸器，其可搭载质量高达3200千克的战斗部。“东风6号”理论射程可绕地球一周，所以被称做环球火箭。由于“东风6号”的技术难度太大，三级火箭每一级发动机都不相同，尤其是第二级的塞式发动机，直到目前美国仍处于研制当中。最后经过科研人员三年的奋战，“东风6号”不得不中途下马，而部分资金和技术则转移到了其它型号的导弹与火箭上。...

baike.baidu.com

æ秘ä¸å›½ä¸œé£Ž6导弹：射程是东风41三å€æœ€ç»ˆå´ä¸‹é©¬|ä¸å›½|导弹|东风_新浪军事_新浪网

在ä¸å›½çš„å¼¹é“导弹家æ—ä¸ï¼Œæ´²é™…导弹一直都是最神秘ã€ä¹Ÿæ˜¯æœ€å¼•äººå…³æ³¨çš„，在目å‰å·²ç»å…¬å¼€çš„åž‹å·ä¸ï¼Œâ€œæœ€é‡é‡çº§â€çš„就是东风-5Bæ¶²ä½“æ´²é™…æˆ˜ç•¥æ ¸å¯¼å¼¹ã€‚ä¸œé£Ž-5å¼¹é“导弹是上世纪70年代ä¸å›½å¼€å§‹ç ”å‘的，但鲜为人知的是，当时还准备ç...

mil.news.sina.com.cn

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▲ 5. The Shuguang-1 (Dawn One) manned spacecraft (code-named Project 714) was piloted by two astronauts and had a maximum flight time of eight days. It was planned to launch an unmanned spacecraft in 1973 and a manned spacecraft in 1974. The Shuguang-1 was lanched by the Dongfeng-6 Orbiting Missile.

North Korea’s Fractional Orbital Bombing System

Peeking under the shroud of North Korea’s Monster Missile

November 5, 2020

Some unresolved questions surround the huge new mobile missiles that North Korea showed off in last month’s parade. Most of all: what will they carry, and when will the North Koreans reveal it through flight-testing?

Let’s start with what we can observe. The external characteristics of the weapon are consistent with a two-stage, liquid-propelled ICBM. In many ways, it’s similar to the Hwasong-15, which North Korea tested in 2017, but on a larger scale. My CNS colleagues estimate that the new missile is about 25 m long, compared to the roughly 20 m-long HS-15. It has a first stage of about 2.4 m [3 m] in diameter, compared to the approximately 2.1 m [2.4 m] diameter of the HS-15.

Like the HS-15, the Monster Missile features a “skirt” at the base of its first stage, suggesting a cluster of gimbaled engines, and an evocatively named “shroud” over its payload section at the front. That’s a hollow cover that pops off after the missile leaves the atmosphere, allowing whatever the missile carries to deploy.

As Mike Elleman and Vann van Diepen were quick to observe, the HS-15 already appears capable of sending a heavy payload to anyplace on the mainland of these United States. It follows that the new missile wasn’t built for greater range, but to carry a bigger, heavier payload. Which means… what?

Even before the parade, veteran intelligence analysts Markus Garlauskas and Bruce Perry noted that the logical next step for the North Korean ICBM program would be to deploy multi-warhead missiles in order to thwart U.S. missile defenses. Ensuring that North Korea’s nuclear weapons can penetrate the American “shield” may be what Kim Jong Un meant when he said in 2017 that “our final goal is to establish the equilibrium of real force [or “effective balance of power”] with the U.S. and make the U.S. rulers dare not talk about [a] military option for the DPRK.”

The U.S. pioneered the multiple reentry vehicle (MRV) concept in the early 1960s, followed by the multiple independently targetable reentry vehicle (MIRV). The Soviet Union caught up with their own versions within a decade or so. You could think of MRV as nuclear grapeshot, spraying a handful of bombs across one area. MIRV is more precise and more adaptable; it involves a small rocket engine called a post-boost vehicle, or “bus,” that pushes each warhead it carries onto a selected course, sending them to different targets if desired.

Some combination of multiple warheads and missile-defense countermeasures–chaff, decoys, and so forth–has become the favorite in this morbid little guessing game. If they’re ambitious, perhaps the North Koreans might be trying to replicate Britain’s Chevaline payload, which was designed to let its Polaris missiles thwart nuclear-tipped interceptors placed around Moscow. Chevaline was a two-warhead system with a post-boost vehicle that dispensed countermeasures into various patterns in space. It’s also rather well-documented today, as these things go.

There’s another possibility that I’ve yet to see explored at length, though. Let’s call it a dark horse. It’s another approach to beating missile defense, and one that requires a heavy payload, but no more than a single warhead per missile. That’s the fractional orbital bombardment system (FOBS).

FOBS was a Soviet innovation, brought to fruition in the mid-1960s, before the USSR developed its own multiple-warhead missiles. It involved a modified ICBM that launched its payload into low earth orbit. When the payload approached its target, an onboard retro-rocket would fire, deorbiting the warhead.

The advantage of FOBS was its ability to circumvent NORAD’s lines of early-warning radars in Canada. The FOBS weapon could be launched in any direction, allowing the USSR to launch an attack over the South Pole if desired.

Today’s early-warning radars don’t just provide warning; they also supply crucial data to the Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD). These radars are located in Alaska, Greenland, the UK, California, and Massachusetts, pointing north, west, and east, whereas the interceptors themselves are mostly in Alaska, waiting for an attack from the north. Thus, the same old FOBS concept remains applicable. It’s even enjoying new life in Russia, whose president has said that the Sarmat multi-warhead missile can attack over either the North or the South Pole.

With the ability to attack in FOBS mode, North Korea could compel the United States to an unhappy choice: either build what amounts to a substantially new, south-facing defensive architecture, or accept that it cannot physically prevent nuclear attack from Pyongyang, even under the sunniest of assumptions about GMD’s performance.

Even if North Korea is building a FOBS today, its leaders probably anticipate a transition to MIRV in time, following the Soviet precedent. But FOBS could have certain advantages for now. First, the technology simply might be more rapidly attainable. Second, sticking with just one warhead per missile demands less fissile material. Third, it also avoids creating pressure to return to nuclear testing to demonstrate the smaller, lighter warheads most suited to MRV or MIRV. Fourth, being able to deorbit a payload essentially anywhere means that North Korea could finally conduct a fully realistic and instrumented test of an intercontinental-class reentry vehicle on its own territory, or close to its own shores; they’d just have to fly one all the way around the world.

There’s an uncomfortably large chance that we’ll find out soon what the Monster Missile hides under that shroud. A transition to a Biden administration on January 20, 2021 gives Kim Jong Un an incentive to try to demonstrate the existence of an “effective balance of power” beforehand, since it might strengthen his hand without directly challenging the newly inaugurated president. Kim has set the 8th Workers’ Party Congress for January as well; the success of a “new strategic weapon”–either real success or merely alleged–could set the stage for changes in governing structures and the direction of policy.

Whatever does happen, I can’t see any benefits from sitting back and waiting for North Korea to demonstrate the ability to overcome GMD by whatever means. That will mean bargaining for the reaffirmation of Kim Jong Un’s April 2018 pledge not to test long-range missiles or nuclear devices, which he declared a dead letter in January of this year. How that will work will be up to the new team in Washington, but the sooner they decide on their approach, the better.

Peeking under the shroud of North Korea’s Monster Missile

www.armscontrolwonk.com

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▲ 6. Iranian 1'800 kg E1 spacecraft： new prototype disclosed in 2016 on the left， first 2015 exhibition model on the right。

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▲ 7. North Korean Unha-9 SLV carrying the 1'800 kg one-seater E1 spacecraft (Mallima: “千里马号”（천리마）)， similar to the Project 714 Shuguang-1 spacecraft。

The model disclosed so far by Iran of the E1 is only the reentry vehicle. Because it is the only part to be tested in the first suborbital phase.

Expect a future orbital module to be disclosed only after that, in the phase two when orbital manned flight will be considered, and similar in shape and size to the Soviet 8F673 orbital module!

Vehicle Design	Soviet 8K69 FOBS	Chinese DF-6 (东风六号)	North Korean Unha-9 (은하9호)
Start of Development	April 1962	1971	2012
First flight	December 1965	Planned 1973 Project cancelled on 28 March 1974	Speculated 2021
Total length	32.60 m	45 m	~44 m
Diameter	3.05 m		3 m
Gross liftoff weight	181 t	270 t	~210 t
Stage	3	3	3
Payload weight LEO/warhead	4.5 t / 1.7 t @150km	3.200 t	~4 t / 1.8 t
Max range	40'000 km	31'000 km
Stage 1			Hwasong-16
Length	18.90 m		~18.5 m
Diameter	3 m		3 m
Liftoff weight	125 t		131 t
Engines	1*RD-251		4 * Paektusan-1D
Thrust			880.0 kN (Vac.)
Total thrust	2366 kN/2640 kN Vac	400 tf	3520 kN (Vac.)
Propellant	UDMH/N2O4	liquid	UDMH/N2O4
Stage 2			Hwasong-15
Length	9.40 m		~16.50 m
Diameter	3 m		2.4 m
Liftoff weight	48 t		61.50 t
Engines	1*RD-252	altitude compensating nozzle engine	1 * Paektusan-1C
Thrust			880.0 kN (Vac.)
Total thrust	940.400 kN/955.991 kN Vac		880.0 kN (Vac.)
Propellant	UDMH/N2O4	liquid	UDMH/N2O4
Stage 3	OGCh
Length			3 m
Diameter			2.4 m
Liftoff weight	1700kg		12.65 t
Engines	RD-854		2 *
Thrust	7.7 t
Total thrust
Propellant	UDMH/N2O4	liquid	UDMH/N2O4