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By:

Ruddhi Phadke

22 September 2024 at 10:17:54 am

Iran’s Orbital Defiance

The Islamic Republic’s latest satellite launch powered by Russia shows how sanctioned powers are reshaping the politics of orbit For decades, space has been sold to the public as humanity’s most cooperative endeavour and as a realm above borders where science trumps politics. Yet, history suggests otherwise. From Sputnik’s shock in 1957 to the weaponised GPS of modern warfare, the orbit has always been an extension of earthly rivalry. Iran’s latest satellite launch executed with Russian help...

Iran’s Orbital Defiance

The Islamic Republic’s latest satellite launch powered by Russia shows how sanctioned powers are reshaping the politics of orbit For decades, space has been sold to the public as humanity’s most cooperative endeavour and as a realm above borders where science trumps politics. Yet, history suggests otherwise. From Sputnik’s shock in 1957 to the weaponised GPS of modern warfare, the orbit has always been an extension of earthly rivalry. Iran’s latest satellite launch executed with Russian help despite Western sanctions fits squarely into that tradition. On December 28, Iran placed three satellites into orbit aboard a Russian Soyuz rocket launched from Vostochny Cosmodrome in Siberia. The mission, unremarkable by global standards, was a crowded ‘rideshare’ flight carrying 52 satellites for multiple customers, including two Russian Earth-observation platforms and dozens of CubeSats. What made it noteworthy was the political context. Under heavy Western sanctions and diplomatic isolation, Iran had once again reached space with Moscow’s explicit assistance. Tehran says the satellites - Paya, Zafar-2 and Kowsar - are civilian tools, designed to monitor agriculture, map natural resources and track environmental change. According to Iran’s state news agency, all three were developed domestically. Paya, weighing 150 kilograms, is reportedly the heaviest satellite Iran has yet deployed. Kowsar is far lighter at 35 kilograms, while details of Zafar-2 remain opaque. Russian Aid This was Iran’s second satellite launch of the year. In July, it also relied on Russian launch systems to reach orbit. Cut off from Western space markets, Iran has found in Russia a willing launch partner. The collaboration reflects perfect political alignment as well given that both countries are under sanctions, both frame their technological projects as symbols of sovereign resistance and both see space as a domain where Western dominance can be challenged without firing a shot. Western governments remain sceptical of Iran’s benign explanations given the overlap between space-launch vehicles and ballistic-missile technology. A rocket capable of placing a satellite into orbit shares much of its DNA with one capable of delivering a warhead over long distances. While Iran insists that its aerospace programme is peaceful and compliant with United Nations Security Council resolutions linked to its nuclear activities, the distinction between civilian and military use is technologically thin. Such ambiguity is hardly unique to Iran. The United States, the Soviet Union, China and India all built their space programmes on foundations laid by military rocketry. Sputnik itself was less a scientific breakthrough than a demonstration of intercontinental missile capability. India’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, today a commercial workhorse, grew out of strategic anxieties after China’s nuclear test in 1964. Iran, in this sense, is following a well-trodden path albeit under far heavier scrutiny. Space Dreams Iran’s space ambitions date back to 2009, when it first launched a domestically built satellite. Progress since then has been uneven, marked by technical failures as well as quiet successes. Yet, Tehran has invested in launch sites, satellite design and data-processing infrastructure, all under the banner of self-sufficiency. Space, for Iran’s leadership, is about national pride, technological independence and strategic presence in a region where information dominance increasingly shapes power. Russia’s role adds another layer. Over the past decade, Moscow has sought to preserve its status as a leading space power even as budgets tighten and Western partnerships fray. Cooperation with Iran offers practical benefits: shared costs, additional launch demand and geopolitical leverage. For Tehran, Russian rockets provide access to reliable launch capacity otherwise denied by sanctions. For Moscow, Iran is both a customer and a fellow traveller in a world less hospitable to Western norms. The timing of the December launch sharpened its political edge. It coincided with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to Washington - a moment when Iran’s regional posture was under intense discussion. Whether deliberate or convenient, the overlap sent a quiet signal which was that Iran’s technological trajectory will not pause for diplomatic choreography. In West Asia, where advantage today accrues less from mass than from who sees first and longest, earth-observation satellites carry weight. While they may be billed as instruments of agriculture and climate, they also linger over borders. Even modest platforms, when paired with reliable launch partners and shared data, can shift strategic confidence. Cooperation with Russia therefore offers Iran more than orbital access: it extends its gaze, and with it, its room to manoeuvre. More broadly, the episode underlines how space has become a geopolitical multiplier once again. What began in the 20th century as a duopoly of the Soviet and the American superpowers has evolved into a crowded arena of sanctioned states, emerging powers and commercial actors, all blurring the line between civilian utility and strategic intent. Then as now, access to orbit confers status as much as capability. And sanctions, far from freezing technological ambition, tend to redirect it. They push states towards alternative partners, parallel systems and conspicuous demonstrations of resilience. For Tehran, space offers a means of asserting continuity and competence under pressure, a reminder that isolation need not imply stagnation. For Russia, it is another channel through which to dilute Western isolation, sustain relevance and bind fellow outliers into a looser, but durable, technological alignment.

Warriors of Night

Updated: Oct 22, 2024

We name our daughters Durga, Lakshmi and Saraswati; we worship the divine feminine power in the temples but oppress, repress and even attack the feminine power amidst us. That is the irony in the way India sees its women.

After the safety of the daylight fades, women are seen as easy prey by the predators of the night.

We mark the nine nights of Navratri, the festival of the goddess, by celebrating the dedication and valour of nine real-life women who brave the challenges of the night to pursue their dreams.


Part - 4


Never felt unsafe

The singer says there has been a generational change over the last two decades

Never felt unsafe

Work has no timings for Aisha Sayed. Sometimes, she begins her studio recording at 12 AM and finishes by 5 AM; at other times, concerts and live shows start at 9 AM and she’s done by midnight. In her field of work as a performer and singer, Sayed is used to not getting a night’s sleep and often returning home when most of the city is set to wake up. “I have been travelling at night but I have never, ever, felt unsafe in Mumbai,” says the singer-performer who began her career at the age of 13 years. Her father spotted her talent for music and took her to meet a sound engineer who was their neighbour in Bandra. The family helped her get opportunities and from there, her career began.

Being among the top contenders in Indian Idol, season 3, in 2007 catapulted her to fame and it opened up a world of new performance opportunities across the country. “I was just 20 years then and I was travelling the world, performing at the most lavish weddings, staying at the most luxurious hotels and performing at big corporate gigs,” she says. Safety, while on work, is has never been an issue for her for the organizers arrange a security detail for the performers. “They escort us until we reach the room. And since we travel with our team in a big group, there is always safety in numbers,” says Sayed, who sings in 10 languages. Her peers have faced instances of audience members being rowdy. “Once in Delhi, a group of drunk men followed my colleague to her room and kept banging on her door late into the night. But I have been fortunate,” she says.

Work assignments have taken to varied places, from the most luxurious international destinations to far-off venues in the hinterland of India where she’s travelled through dark, dense forested areas. “I have driven through areas where the only light is that of your car’s headlights. Turn around and you see pitch darkness,” says Sayed. She’s always got a little prayer on her lips when travelling through these remote areas for miles together. She recalls a show in Chattisgarh where she had to travel for nine hours at a stretch through remote and forested areas. “No place in our country is as safe as Mumbai,” she stresses. She would know, considering her extensive travels. She advises women to travel in groups while in places that are unfamiliar or unknown and never to venture out at night alone. “Keep your family informed of your whereabouts,” she says.

While her agreements state that proper security at all times, Sayed says that she drives her own car if she’s out at night for parties or personal work but insists that the people of Mumbai are largely helpful and cooperative. A rickshaw driver who once drove to home in the wee hours of the night, after a recording, waited at her gate until the watchman let her in. Friends and colleagues have dropped her home several times.

Mumbai, she feels, has changed—and it’s for the better, in the past two decades. “Earlier, on buses and trains, men would use the crowd as an excuse to touch women inappropriately. That has gone down. There is a generational change that I see,” says Sayed. She used to take the BEST buses and trains to her training classes and for recordings in the early days of her career.

Her timings are inconsistent and her shows take her to various cities and towns. But the Mumbai-bred girl emphasizes that her city is very safe for women, despite the various incidents of violence. “Mumbai is the only place where a woman can wear what she wants, wear bright red lipstick, leave her hair open and look glamorous and still be safe.”

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