[IsraelTimes] US and Israel say Tehran’s space program a cover for ballistic missile development; Iran has not acknowledged conducting fresh launch after previous effort failed to reach orbit.Iran appears to have attempted a second satellite launch despite US criticism that its space program helps it develop ballistic missiles, satellite images released Thursday suggest. Iran has not acknowledged conducting such a launch.
Images released by the Colorado-based company DigitalGlobe show a rocket at the Imam Khomeini Space Center in Iran’s Semnan province on Tuesday. Images from Wednesday show the rocket was gone with what appears to be burn marks on its launch pad.
Iranian state media did not immediately report on the rocket launch, though such delays have happened in previous launches.
Iran has said it would launch its Doosti, or "Friendship," satellite. A launch in January failed to put another satellite, Payam or "Message," into orbit.
DigitalGlobe analysts said the images from Tuesday suggest Iran used a Safir, or "ambassador," rocket in the launch. In the January launch, engineers used a Simorgh, or "phoenix," rocket. It wasn’t immediately clear what prompted the rocket choice.
The Doosti, a remote-sensing satellite developed by engineers at Tehran’s Sharif University of Technology, was to be launched into a low orbit.
The US alleges such launches defy a UN Security Council resolution calling on Iran to undertake no activity related to ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons.
In January, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu alleged the first Iranian launch was actually "the first stage of an intercontinental missile" Iran is developing in violation of international agreements.