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Iran Forced To Cancel Its Space Program
MarkWhittington writes The War is Boring blog reported that the Islamic Republic of Iran has been obliged to cancel its nascent space program. This development means that former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's dream of being the first astronaut to be launched into space by Iran have been dashed. Ironically, Anousheh Ansari, who was obliged to flee to the United States from Iran to avoid religious oppression, remains the only Iranian-born space traveler. She did it by going to Texas, making her fortune in the electronics business, and paying for her trip to the International Space Station.
Well, they probably couldn't figure out how to Photoshop their way into space.
Whatever you think of their politics, I'm sorry to see them leave the club, even if it's only temporarily. Spaceflight is one of the few remaining areas of "friendly rivalry" where everybody still cheers for the other teams' success, even as we hope to best them. Nobody ever watches a launch and thinks "I hope it explodes! I hope it explodes!" No... you always think "Go, baby, go!"
XML is like violence. If it doesn't solve your problem, you're not using enough of it. --AC
What I'd like to see in the abstract is an explanation of what the submitter thinks "ironically" means. Maybe Mark Whittington is Alanis Morrisette's alias.
From the tone of the articles, it seems more like "they couldn't justify continued funding with current levels of success". In other words, they're having a budget crunch (not unreasonable given the current economy), and the space program vanity-project was one of the first things on the chopping block.
FTA "but had to become an American to realize her full potential."
Where others might say "had to leave Iran to realize her full potential" ...
More probably plunging oil prices have wiped out the Iranian governments revenue stream. There is speculation that one of the reasons Saudi Arabia is continuing to pump oil and crater oil prices is to cripple Iran, a bitter Shia enemy, and defund programs like uranium enrichment, missile development, their miliary in general and their support for other anti Sunni groups in the Middle East.
The other speculations for continued Saudi efforts to crash oil prices are to wipe out frackers in the U.S. so they can regain more political control over the U.S., to wipe out expensive offshore and artic oil exploration, to punish Russia at the behest of the U.S. or because Russia is a key benefactor of Iran.
@de_machina
Don't forget the Islamic State, which also counts oil as its primary source of income. Saudi Arabia has no shortage of reasons to drive down oil prices.
How can I believe you when you tell me what I don't want to hear?
What I'd like to see in the abstract is an explanation of what the submitter thinks "ironically" means.
I saw that too. Looks like the submitter was trying to distance himself from the "literally" crowd. Ironically, he fell flat on his face.
Now, if an immigrant from a 3rd-world country — coming here with little English and knowledge of culture, can do it, what is the excuse of the natively born-and-raised Americans?
Whom can they blame for being unable to afford whatever they want by age of 40?
In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.
How about 'all of the above.'
The Saudis have a stated policy of pumping the oil while it is still valuable. They expect technology to make oil obsolete in 100 years or so. Even plastic feed stock can come from plants. That said; I'm not sure I believe them.
They also claim to have about 200 years worth of oil and the lowest costs in the world. If all that is true, then they should pump like mad. The market will find a new equilibrium, if some nations can't turn a profit at that price, that is not the Saudi's problem. Everybody involved understands sunk costs though.
John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
And the fact that $100/barrel oil and $4.00/gallon gasoline means that consumers have a strong incentive to look at alternate forms of energy. Houses get built that don't use "home heating oil" for their furnaces, cars that are increasingly fuel efficient become more popular, and some car buyers actually look at their driving patterns to see if electrics can meet their needs.
If oil remains expensive for the long-term, oil finds its customer base slowly evaporating, until a tipping-point is reached where economies of scale suddenly make the new stuff even more practical, and as that happens, politicians start seeing an opportunity to restrict the manufacture of new products that operate the old way, and then the oil market shrinks even further.
I'm not saying that internal combustion engines in cars would go away quickly as soon as extremely cheap electric cars come into production, but look at the number of cars still on the road that lack airbags, or that lack antilock brakes, or that have carburetors instead of some form of fuel injection. It takes less than fifteen years for the bulk of cars on the road to no longer have the older technology once the new one is standard, and less than 20 years for the old way to be legitimately rare. That's the danger the oil producers face with $100/barrel oil, that the car companies will start making electrics due to customer demand, and that more and more customers will like them and buy them.
Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
They expect technology to make oil obsolete in 100 years or so.
Which makes you wonder why they're doing fuck all to develop a non-oil-based economy. Eventually they're not going to be able to buy off their unemployed young men or divert them all to a lifetime of study in madrassas.
I am becoming gerund, destroyer of verbs.
They are diversifying by buying assets in the US. When the oil finishes they (Saudi elite)will move to the US and leave the Saudi population to wallow in misery. This is not a democracy we are talking about here
Ah! He got me, he got me! Please, please, do not report my thought-crime to the authorities — I'll do anything!..
In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.
Iran's real purpose here never was spaceflight.
It was improving their ballistic missiles. Making them more accurate, have longer ranges, etc. So they could drop payloads on Israel, Europe, or even America.
Launching satellites, animals, or even astronauts into space is a great coverup for ballistic missile research.
Even the New York Times, not exactly a hotbed of right-wing reactionary fervor, noted that Iran's space program was basically a sham:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/09/world/middleeast/launching-site-in-iran-raises-missile-worries.html
But with Iran's economy already hurting from sanctions, and now probably in free fall from the oil price implosion, this dream of theirs is not currently affordable.
GOOD.
The blog from the summary cites no sources. Hell, they don't even hint at where they get their information. The other link to a story is a rehash of the blog post. The others are unrelated to the main story.
And in case you're wondering, the blog post doesn't say why they quit or what does "quitting" mean. One can assume from the text (though it doesn't actually say it) that the main space agency was disbanded by the government, but that's all. Why? Who knows!
This is some high-quality journalism here.
Apparently they've had issues sourcing large cardboard boxes.
Best I can tell, based on US Pro-Republican/Anti-Obama images I'm receiving online, the Saudis have absolutely nothing to do with the drop in oil-prices; it is all due to the Republicans being elected into Congress and having changed all laws to be pro-US instead of pro-Islam.
From http://www.bbc.com/news/busine...
"Saudi Arabia can cope with low oil prices for "at least eight years", Saudi Arabia's minister of petroleum's former senior adviser has told the BBC. Mohammed al-Sabban said the country's policy was to defend its current market share by enduring low prices. "You need to allow prices to go as low as possible in order to see those marginal producers move out of the market," he said."
Eight happy years!
http://www.theweek.co.uk/busin...
"The dramatic fall in the oil price will spur the UK economy to grow faster than had been predicted this year, according to influential forecaster the EY ITEM Club."
Yo-hoo
Is that they're great to simultaneously develop accurate ICBMs.
Iran no longer having a space program means that its neighbors in the region don't have to worry about missiles being developed under such a banner, at least; anything they develop will be made for military use. Also possibly badly photoshopped.
Best I can tell, based on US Pro-Republican/Anti-Obama images I'm receiving online, the Saudis have absolutely nothing to do with the drop in oil-prices; it is all due to the Republicans being elected into Congress and having changed all laws to be pro-US instead of pro-Islam.
Of course the falling prices are due to the Republican win! Why, just in the last two weeks since the Republicans took office, even the length of the day is getting longer after the long _black_ night of Obama's Winter. Mark my words, though, these sunny days won't last. I predict that, if Obama is still in office in six months, that the entire country will start to get colder and darker.
http://earthsky.org/earth/everything-you-need-to-know-december-solstice
They let it run a little too long this time, though. Hybrids and electrics have had a chance to get a foothold in the market, and some people are already starting to think about how pure electric vehicles and ones with fuel cells could potentially change how electric grids work. It wouldn't take a very big push for countries to start adopting electric vehicles powered with Clean Atomic Energy. And that'll plunge us into the next ice age lickety split, once global warming starts to reverse. Hah, didn't see THAT coming, did you?
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?