Satellite images released Thursday by Iran suggest the country attempted a second satellite launch despite U.S. criticism Iran’s space program aids efforts to develop ballistic missiles, Time magazine reported.
Colorado-based DigitalGlobal released images showing a rocket at the Imam Khomeini Space Center Tuesday, the report said.
Images Wednesday show the rocket no longer on the launch pad, but burn marks are seen, Time reported. In keeping with previous policy, Iranian state media did not disclose a launch.
Iran has insisted it would launch its Doosti – or “Friendship – satellite after a failed launch of the Payam – or “Message” – in January, the report said.
The U.S. complains such launches defy a U.N. Security Council resolution calling on Iran to undertake no activity related to ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons, the magazine reported.
Iran, which has said repeatedly it does not seek nuclear weapons, maintains its satellite launches and rocket tests do not have a military component, Time reported. Tehran also insisted the country don’t violate a United Nations resolution that only “called upon” it not to conduct such tests.
In the past decade, Iran has sent several short-lived satellites into orbit and in 2013 launched a monkey into space, the report concluded.
– WN.com, Jack Durschlag