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Regardless of your views on the sanctions themselves, this blog post illustrates how effective the US blockade of technology to Iran really is. The Iranian spac

by dsl 14y ago

Regardless of your views on the sanctions themselves, this blog post illustrates how effective the US blockade of technology to Iran really is. The Iranian space program is just starting to reach the level of sophistication of hobbyists in the western world. The post however fails to mention Iran has actually launched a total of 5 satellites, the first two being joint launches with Russia and China.

guard-of-terra 14y ago
You are plain wrong. Any space program takes years and starts with satellite launches. Look at the Chinese program for example. There is no reason to think US blockade somehow harmed the progress of the program there. And it does not matter much since USSR is known to launch anything they wanted before the modern globalized economics that made blockades possible even existed. Your comment about hobbysts is plain misleading to. How many hobbysts launch pets into suborbital and orbital flights and get those back in one piece? How many hobbysts can launch a satellite, anyway? Using their own rocket? You can pimp SpaceX to defend your misleading statement, but they are not in any sense hobbysts and their work would not be possible without NASA and it took them long years anyway. So please stop disregarding other people's achivements. This is just lame.
- tomjen3 14y ago
  No but Copenhagen Suborbitals are hobbiests. And they expect to launch a suborbital rocket with a human onboard. And their combined budget is properly less than what NASA use on toilets.
  - arethuza 14y ago
    Note the "Suborbital" in their name - they aren't trying to go into orbit, but send someone straight up and pretty much straight down again - so similar to Virgin Galactic.
  - ryanac 14y ago
    Some of those "hobbyists" at Copenhagen Suborbitals are former NASA contractors and they have been working on that project since May 2008, so I think his main point still stands. It also looks like they're still doing a lot of testing on active guidance systems, rather than trying to put a human up any time soon. You can see their plans for the rest of this year under Campaigns > 2012 on their main site: http://www.copenhagensuborbitals.com http://www.copenhagensuborbitals.com
  - nitrogen 14y ago
    No but Copenhagen Suborbitals are hobbiests. And they expect to launch a suborbital rocket with a human onboard. And their combined budget is properly less than what NASA use on toilets. I've noticed this in many of your comments, so I thought I'd point out that you are using "properly" in place of "probably" quite frequently. Also, this is a common mistake, but it's "hobbyist" rather than "hobbiest."
  - ZoFreX 14y ago
    Putting a satellite in orbit is significantly more complex than sending someone straight up and down again.
ucee054 14y ago
No, I think the Iranian space program has always been much lower priority than the Iranian demand for healthcare. What really demonstrates how effective the US blockade of technology to Iran really is is all the innocent Iranian civilian cancer patients who can't get the medicines they need to keep them alive.

by dsl 14y ago

guard-of-terra 14y ago

You are plain wrong. Any space program takes years and starts with satellite launches. Look at the Chinese program for example. There is no reason to think US blockade somehow harmed the progress of the program there. And it does not matter much since USSR is known to launch anything they wanted before the modern globalized economics that made blockades possible even existed. Your comment about hobbysts is plain misleading to. How many hobbysts launch pets into suborbital and orbital flights and get those back in one piece? How many hobbysts can launch a satellite, anyway? Using their own rocket? You can pimp SpaceX to defend your misleading statement, but they are not in any sense hobbysts and their work would not be possible without NASA and it took them long years anyway. So please stop disregarding other people's achivements. This is just lame.

tomjen3 14y ago
No but Copenhagen Suborbitals are hobbiests. And they expect to launch a suborbital rocket with a human onboard. And their combined budget is properly less than what NASA use on toilets.
- arethuza 14y ago
  Note the "Suborbital" in their name - they aren't trying to go into orbit, but send someone straight up and pretty much straight down again - so similar to Virgin Galactic.
- ryanac 14y ago
  Some of those "hobbyists" at Copenhagen Suborbitals are former NASA contractors and they have been working on that project since May 2008, so I think his main point still stands. It also looks like they're still doing a lot of testing on active guidance systems, rather than trying to put a human up any time soon. You can see their plans for the rest of this year under Campaigns > 2012 on their main site: http://www.copenhagensuborbitals.com http://www.copenhagensuborbitals.com
- nitrogen 14y ago
  No but Copenhagen Suborbitals are hobbiests. And they expect to launch a suborbital rocket with a human onboard. And their combined budget is properly less than what NASA use on toilets. I've noticed this in many of your comments, so I thought I'd point out that you are using "properly" in place of "probably" quite frequently. Also, this is a common mistake, but it's "hobbyist" rather than "hobbiest."
- ZoFreX 14y ago
  Putting a satellite in orbit is significantly more complex than sending someone straight up and down again.

ucee054 14y ago

No, I think the Iranian space program has always been much lower priority than the Iranian demand for healthcare. What really demonstrates how effective the US blockade of technology to Iran really is is all the innocent Iranian civilian cancer patients who can't get the medicines they need to keep them alive.