Pishgam
Pishgam ('pioneer') (formerly Kavoshgar-5 (meaning 'Explorer-5')) is an Iranian rocket which launched on 28 January 2013. It contained a rhesus monkey and is one of a series of Iranian rocket launches containing biological cargo which are intended as precursors to human spaceflight.
Kavoshgar programme
The launch, originally called Kavoshgar-5, follows on from Kavoshgar-4, which launched in March 2011. That was a sub-orbital flight reaching an apogee of 150 kilometres (93 mi) and landed 300 kilometres (190 mi) from the launch site. It contained the equipment to house the monkey, without an actual monkey. A previous launch, Kavoshgar-3, contained worms, turtles and a rat.[1][2][3][4]
The first Kavoshgar-5 launch took place sometime between 23 August and 22 September 2011 (Iranian month of Shahrivar) and ended in failure. One source estimates the launch was on 15 September 2011.[5] The capsule contained a rhesus monkey.[6] After this, on 3 October, Iran announced a suspension of its live animal space programme.[1][2][7]
On 1 August 2012 Hamid Fazeli from the Iranian Space Agency announced that the monkey would be launched after Ramadan, which ended on 19 August 2012. [3][8][9][4][10] There were no subsequent announcements until December 2012 when it was said that the launch would be soon. [11][12]
On 28 January 2013 Iran announced that the launch taken place on that day, which has religious significance as the birthday of Mohammed, known as Mawlid. Further details were not given except that the craft landed safely and the monkey survived. [13][14]
Rocket
Reports have said the rocket will undertake a twenty minute flight and reach a height of 150 km.[7] It is similar to the Safir rocket which launched Omid.[15]
The Iranian Space Agency said before the first launch that they had five adolescent rhesus monkeys from South East Asia. The monkey's health is checked before launch and the launch is intended to demonstrate that the life support systems work and that the monkey will land in good health.[15] Iran has previously said that it intends to start manned space flight in 2020.[7]
References
- ^ a b "Space Events - 2011". Zarya.info. Retrieved 7 September 2012.
- ^ a b "Iran failed with space monkey launch: Report". Zee News. 12 November 2011. Retrieved 7 September 2012.
- ^ a b "Iran to Send More Living Creatures into Space Soon". Fars News Agency. 1 August 2012. Retrieved 7 September 2012.
- ^ a b Nicola Guttridge (3 August 2012). "Iran Space Agency to launch a monkey into space". New Scientist. Retrieved 7 September 2012.
- ^ Jonathan McDowell. "Kavoshgar". Jonathan's Space Page. Retrieved 9 September 2012.
- ^ "Report: Iran Attempt to Launch Monkey Into Space Fails". Space.com. 12 October 2011. Retrieved 8 September 2012.
- ^ a b c "Iran fails with space monkey launch". Daily Telegraph. 12 October 2011. Retrieved 7 September 2012.
- ^ "'Iran to launch "kavoshgar-5" satellite carrier into space in near future'". Iran English Radio. 1 August 2012. Retrieved 7 September 2012.
- ^ "Iran to send monkey into space after month of Ramadan". Tehran Times. 1 August 2012. Retrieved 7 September 2012.
- ^ "Muslim calendar for 2012". BBC. Retrieved 7 September 2012.
- ^ "Iran sends living creature into space". Iran Project. 28 January 2013. Retrieved 28 January 2013.
- ^ "Go For Launch!". Zarya.info. Retrieved 28 January 2013.
- ^ "Iran says monkey sent to space". Al Jazeera. 28 January 2013. Retrieved 28 January 2013.
- ^ "Iran sends living creature into space". Press TV. 28 January 2013. Retrieved 28 January 2013.
- ^ a b "Iran to launch Kavoshgar-5 carrying living creature in Mordad/July 22-August 22". Iranian Space Agency. 28 June 2011. Retrieved 7 September 2012.