…and the AP buys it uncritically:
Iran says it has sent the country’s first space capsule that is able to sustain life into orbit as a test for a future mission that may carry a live animal.
The state IRNA news agency says the capsule was carried by a rocket dubbed Kavoshgar-4 – or Explorer-4 in Farsi – some 75 miles (120 kilometers) into orbit.
There is no such thing as a 75-mile orbit. That’s barely into space (the official altitude is a hundred kilometers, or about 63 miles), and there is too much drag to sustain it. If they have enough velocity to get to orbit, they’d also have enough to get to a decent altitude (at least a hundred fifty miles or so). This was probably a suborbit. If there was a launch at all.
I wonder if they bothered to confirm with the JSPOC? Maybe I will.
You could do a 75 mile orbit… if you had thrust to counteract the drag… a structure that could handle the friction heat that would be generated… and believed in the toothfairey or allah.
PressTV, Iran’s state organ, doesn’t claim that the “bio-capsule” was launched into orbit. It says that the “bio-capsule” was guided through a range of more than 300 km, and managed to transmit images from an altitude of 120 km.
IRNA (Islamic Republic News Agency) doesn’t have this story on their website yet (at least not in English), but earlier in the year, they covered the unveiling of four space projects (two satellites, the Explorer 4 rocket, and a ground station), and didn’t say anything about Explorer 4 being an orbital launcher.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/170381.html
http://www.irna.ir/ENNewsShow.aspx?NID=30214022
I see no evidence of Iran lying here – a more plausible explanation is that AP screwed up a detail, as they often do. Science reporting is often mishandled.
“Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.”
You could do a 75 mile orbit… if you had thrust to counteract the drag…
That wouldn’t be in orbit, by definition. One of the conditions is that your motion is influenced by nothing except gravity.
Ashley, you’re right, they probably just said “into space,” and someone at AP who doesn’t know the difference wrote “orbit.” But when it comes to Iran and lies, there’s no point in granting the benefit of the doubt in general.
I think you are being a bit strict with the definition for the Iranians and their friends in the Press.
Of course it’s a lie. Getting access to space is always an excuse for testing ballistic missile technology. Anyone who believes otherwise is a fool. Our own space aspirations had a lot to do with fear that the Soviets would gain the military high ground, and a desire to hone our own skills at that competition.
So, does that mean Iran has a right to do as they please, and we should be blase about it? Yes, and no. They have a “right”, whatever that may mean without some objective authority to determine what is a “right”. Which is to say, they can do it if they want and are able, but we have a “right” to push back and try not to let them get what they want, and that at least involves pointing out to the naive what they are up to.
We don’t have to be “fair” in competition with an aggressive adversary. This isn’t some gentleman’s club where we bow to each other and take turns allowing the other guy to get a shot. It’s a street fight, which will determine ultimately whether people will live free, or be the subjects of despots.
That wouldn’t be in orbit, by definition. One of the conditions is that your motion is influenced by nothing except gravity.
A little too restrictive a definition, surely? ISS is certainly in orbit but atmospheric drag influences its orbit.
OK, then “to first order.” A vehicle that requires continuous thrust through the atmosphere to make it all the way around is not in orbit. It’s just a very fast airplane making a circumnavigation.
“I wonder if they bothered to confirm with the JSPOC? Maybe I will.”
While you’re at it, contact JBONES to see if he has a medical opinion about the capsule’s ability to sustain life, and JSCOTTY to see how much power it would take to maintain orbit at 75 miles (my guess is that it would take so much, she’d blow…).
“Bio-Capsule”
New Pauley Shore movie?