sanctus Posted March 2, 2007 Report Posted March 2, 2007 No politics wanted here! I heard Iran sent for the first time a rocket to space, I heard also it was said only once in the national (iranian) radio. Now, what I'm surprised is that seeing this info it seems that with all the satellites orbiting there aren't any which control and report whatever goes higher than let's say 60 km? Quote
Tormod Posted March 2, 2007 Report Posted March 2, 2007 That's not correct. NORAD (for one) tracks a lot of objects down to centimeter size in much higher orbits than that. There are also alternatives, like satellites monitoring other satellites, and satellites monitoring the ground for launches. A trajectory can be followed pretty much from launch until a satellite is destroyed (ie when it is taken down to burn up in the atmosphere). Quote
sanctus Posted March 2, 2007 Author Report Posted March 2, 2007 Does this mean that probably the rocket hasn't been launched? Quote
Tormod Posted March 2, 2007 Report Posted March 2, 2007 Does this mean that probably the rocket hasn't been launched? It was launched, but it only reached suborbital height (meaning it did not really go into space like they claimed). Iran fires research rocket not space missile: agency | Science | Reuters Sounding rockets are what we launch from the Andoya Rocket Range in Northern Norway every now and then to study the atmosphere. I think they never fly over 150 km, although the record may be much higher than that. Basically they just fly in a parabolic trajectory and fall back down after a little while. They do not really exit the atmosphere. Quote
Jay-qu Posted March 2, 2007 Report Posted March 2, 2007 Australia also sends up some rockets of that sort and while its done by what is called our space program, there isnt much 'space' involved - its mainly boring weather research :phones: Quote
Roadam Posted March 3, 2007 Report Posted March 3, 2007 As far as I know, the Space boundary is at 100 km or 60 miles. So Iran did launch something into space. And as it is said: You move moutain with first carrying away small stones. Quote
Tormod Posted March 3, 2007 Report Posted March 3, 2007 As far as I know, the Space boundary is at 100 km or 60 miles. So Iran did launch something into space. And as it is said: You move moutain with first carrying away small stones. Technically, yes. The point is in fact that there is no "space boundary". In astronautics, 100 kilometers is the height above which astronauts are awarded the "astronaut wings". But the atmosphere does extend much further out than that. Do you have any data about how high the Iranian sounding rocket soared? Quote
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