Editor’s note: This article is part of an ongoing WPR series on a range of countries’ space priorities and programs.
The head of Iran’s space agency announced plans last month to launch three satellites into orbit within the next year: the Doutsi earth-observation satellite, the Tolou remote sensing satellite and the Aat Sat telecommunications satellite. In an email interview, John B. Sheldon, the chairman and president of ThorGroup GmbH, a Swiss-based consulting company, and publisher and editor of SpaceWatch Middle East, discusses Iran’s space program.
WPR: What are Iran’s space capabilities, in terms of its space-industrial complex, and what are the prospects for international space cooperation after the nuclear deal?