Iran's Space Agency 'Interested' to Work With NASA -- Is It Possible?

NASA has many allies when it comes to space explorations like Japan, Europe, and Russia. But an unlikely nation says it is "interested" to cooperate with the agency in terms of space projects, Iran's space agency head said.

"Many in the world look at NASA's programs. We are interested in having cooperation naturally. When you are in orbit, there is no country and race," Mohsen Bahrami, head of Iran's space agency said in an interview.

This news surprised many because it's the first time Iran and the Iran Space Agency (ISA) expressed intent to work with the U.S. and its premiere space agency NASA in space explorations. Iran looks up to NASA's contribution to the space industry that leads to many discoveries and projects about space particularly those focused within the low-Earth orbit (LEO) and Earth monitoring systems. Iran's space agency head pointed out NASA's credibility and dominance in the space industry.  

However, a careful platform should be layed out before the cooperation pushes through. Bahrami added that it can only come to fruition if the leaders of both countries will arrive with an agreement favorable to both. Bahrami also boasts of Iran's "peaceful" and powerful civil space explorations programs. Iran has already established a partnership with Russia, China, Europe and Japan, according to a report.

Iran already expressed its intention to send satellites into space. Like China and other countries, the satellites will be used for weather monitoring and other disasters such as earthquakes. However, the downside to it is that satellites can also be used for missile trajectories.

But the Iranian government is quick to dispel rumors of possible use of their satellites in weapons building. The Iran's Defense Ministry in charge in launching satellites denied that the space program will be used for developing new weaponry, according to a report by FOX News.

The Iran Space Agency started operating in 2005 and was able to send a "dummy" satellite to space in 2013. ISA dreams of sending three mini-satellites to the low-Earth orbit (LEO) in 2018.