Vehicle Configurations

Vehicle Components

On February 2, 2009, Iran joined the "Space Club", becoming the ninth nation to successfully orbit a satellite using its own launch vehicle.  The rocket that performed the historic launch, boosting a 25-27 kg satellite named Omid ("Hope") into a 245 x 378 km x 55.51 deg orbit, was named Safir ("Ambassador"). 

Safir is believed to have been derived from Iran's Shahab ("Shooting Star") 3 intermediate range ballistic missile (IRBM) series, itself thought to have been based on North Korea's No Dong missile.

Safir stands approximately 22 meters tall, is about 1.35 meters in diameter, and is believed to weigh 26-27 tonnes at liftoff.  It is thought to use two liquid propellant stages.  When two stages are used, payload capability is limited to a few 10s of kg.  A small third stage kick motor would allow payloads of perhaps 200 kg or more.     

Safir flies from a new launch site in the Dasht-e-Kavir desert southeast of Semnan, Iran near 35.23 N, 53.92 E.  The road-mobile rocket is erected by a transporter-erector next to a retractable umbilical tower on a flat pad.   The tower, which is retracted shortly before launch, is used to fuel the rocket and to provide arming access to the vehicle and payload.  Launches are aimed toward the southeast, toward the Arabian Sea.

Iran's satellite launch ambitions became apparant On February 4, 2008, when it flew a single-stage Safir precursor named "Kavoshgar", inaugurating the Semnan launch site.  Kavoshgar appeared to be little more than a modified Shahab 3(C) missile on a suborbital mission, but Iranian state media initially reported that it had launched a satellite.  A published photograph of Iranian leaders standing next to a mockup of a taller two-stage Safir rocket added to the confusion.         

Safir is believed to have flown for the first time on August 16, 2008.  Again, Iran media reported that a satellite launch had occurred, but U.S. defense offiicals said that the launch had failed after the first stage had completed its burn, with components of the rocket reaching 150 km before falling back to earth.  The flight may have been a failed attempt to orbit a satellite.   Lettering on the side of the rocket spelled out "Safir Omid IRILV".   The successful February 2 flight was performed by a rocket sporting lettering spelling out "Safir Omid (2) IRILV", an identification consistent with a second orbital attempt. 

The precise details of Safir's design are unknown outside Iran.  The first stage is believed to use a single fixed turbopump-fed thrust chamber of 30-34 tonnes sea-level thrust.  Four graphite vanes extend into the exhaust to provide steering.  Propellants may include unsymmetrical dimethyl hydrazine or a kerosene/gasoline mix burned with a storable oxidizer.  The second stage may use similar propellants, burned in a cluster of smaller thrust chambers (perhaps four chambers producing 500 kgf each) that might be fed by a single turbopump.

Safir may be the first step toward an operational small launch vehicle, or it may be a pathfinder for a more powerful vehicle. 

Vehicle Configurations (Estimates)

Vehicle Components (Estimates Only)

References

www.globalsecurity.com
www.armscontrolwonk.com

 Last Update:  February 8, 2009