[LINK] Two emergent space programs

[rfmcdonald]

• Over at Transitions Online, Andrei Aliaksandrau's article Satellite State" takes a look at Belarus' interest in developing satellite technologies for use in space. The Belarusian program has so far been hampered by the loss of the country's first satellite in a rocket crash, less so by the opposition's condemnation of the program as a misuse of public funds by a vainglorious dictator.


• Elsewhere in the world, Iran claims to have launched a rocket into space this Monday. This might, or might not, mark the culmination of Iran's own space program, using a mixture of indigenous and imported technologies to create space-capable rockets capable of boosting satellites into Earth orbit. These rockets would also have obvious military applications in delivering warheads of whatever nature to targets thousands of kilometers away from their launch site.