A Soyuz rocket blasts off for the International Space Station from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. AP
A Soyuz rocket blasts off for the International Space Station from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. AP
A Soyuz rocket blasts off for the International Space Station from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. AP
A Soyuz rocket blasts off for the International Space Station from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. AP

Russia launches Iranian satellite from Kazakhstan


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Iran received the first telemetry data sent by its new remote-sensing satellite launched on Tuesday by a Russian rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, the official IRNA news agency said.

The "Khayyam" satellite is first project following an initially secret agreement between Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and the Roscosmos space agency.

The satellite, which Iran claims will be used to monitor environmental climate change, is fitted with a high-resolution camera designed by Russia as part of the Kanopus-V system.

The US has said the satellite could be used for military reconnaissance purposes to boost Moscow's surveillance operations in Ukraine.

Iran rejected the accusation, saying Tehran will have full control and operation over it "from day one".

High-resolution satellite imagery has traditionally been the preserve of the US but in recent years, Israel, China and Britain, as well as a host of commercial private imagery providers, have been able to produce extremely clear images from space.

The US government limits commercial providers of satellite imagery to providing a resolution of 30 centimetres per pixel under 2014 legislation and requires companies to clear imagery released to the public before it can go on sale.

That is about as good as the sharpest images provided by Google Earth, but commercial providers can offer more recent images of specific areas.

Classified US government satellite spy programmes are thought to be able to produce much clearer imagery — less than 10 centimetres per pixel.

That has significant reconnaissance potential, enabling military planners to clearly see enemy troop, air or naval deployments, as well as identify specific vehicles or attempts to hide facilities through the use of bunkers and camouflage — something that is next to impossible with lower-resolution imagery.

As a consequence, the US has said that Iran could use the satellite to assist Russian reconnaissance efforts in Ukraine. The US is also widely thought to be supplying Ukraine with satellite intelligence for its war effort.

But the Iranian Space Agency said on Sunday that Tehran would control the Khayyam satellite “from day one”.

“No third country is able to access the information” sent by the satellite due to its “encrypted algorithm”, it said.

The purpose of Khayyam is to “monitor the country's borders”, enhance agricultural productivity and monitor water resources and natural disasters, the space agency said.

Khayyam is being taken into orbit by a Soyuz-2.1b rocket, Russia's space agency Roscosmos said last week.

In numbers: China in Dubai

The number of Chinese people living in Dubai: An estimated 200,000

Number of Chinese people in International City: Almost 50,000

Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2018/19: 120,000

Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2010: 20,000

Percentage increase in visitors in eight years: 500 per cent

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SPEC%20SHEET%3A%20APPLE%20M3%20MACBOOK%20AIR%20(13%22)
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Gifts exchanged
  • King Charles - replica of President Eisenhower Sword
  • Queen Camilla -  Tiffany & Co vintage 18-carat gold, diamond and ruby flower brooch
  • Donald Trump - hand-bound leather book with Declaration of Independence
  • Melania Trump - personalised Anya Hindmarch handbag
LILO & STITCH

Starring: Sydney Elizebeth Agudong, Maia Kealoha, Chris Sanders

Director: Dean Fleischer Camp

Rating: 4.5/5

Keane on …

Liverpool’s Uefa Champions League bid: “They’re great. With the attacking force they have, for me, they’re certainly one of the favourites. You look at the teams left in it - they’re capable of scoring against anybody at any given time. Defensively they’ve been good, so I don’t see any reason why they couldn’t go on and win it.”

Mohamed Salah’s debut campaign at Anfield: “Unbelievable. He’s been phenomenal. You can name the front three, but for him on a personal level, he’s been unreal. He’s been great to watch and hopefully he can continue now until the end of the season - which I’m sure he will, because he’s been in fine form. He’s been incredible this season.”

Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s instant impact at former club LA Galaxy: “Brilliant. It’s been a great start for him and for the club. They were crying out for another big name there. They were lacking that, for the prestige of LA Galaxy. And now they have one of the finest stars. I hope they can go win something this year.”

Match info

Deccan Gladiators 87-8

Asif Khan 25, Dwayne Bravo 2-16

Maratha Arabians 89-2

Chadwick Walton 51 not out

Arabians won the final by eight wickets

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Available: Now

'Joker'

Directed by: Todd Phillips

Starring: Joaquin Phoenix

Rating: Five out of five stars

Bangladesh tour of Pakistan

January 24 – First T20, Lahore

January 25 – Second T20, Lahore

January 27 – Third T20, Lahore

February 7-11 – First Test, Rawalpindi

April 3 – One-off ODI, Karachi

April 5-9 – Second Test, Karachi

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Red flags
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  • Overseas companies targeting investors in other jurisdictions - this can make legal recovery difficult.
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Courtesy: Carol Glynn, founder of Conscious Finance Coaching

Our legal consultant

Name: Dr Hassan Mohsen Elhais

Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.

What is graphene?

Graphene is a single layer of carbon atoms arranged like honeycomb.

It was discovered in 2004, when Russian-born Manchester scientists Andrei Geim and Kostya Novoselov were "playing about" with sticky tape and graphite - the material used as "lead" in pencils.

Placing the tape on the graphite and peeling it, they managed to rip off thin flakes of carbon. In the beginning they got flakes consisting of many layers of graphene. But as they repeated the process many times, the flakes got thinner.

By separating the graphite fragments repeatedly, they managed to create flakes that were just one atom thick. Their experiment had led to graphene being isolated for the very first time.

At the time, many believed it was impossible for such thin crystalline materials to be stable. But examined under a microscope, the material remained stable, and when tested was found to have incredible properties.

It is many times times stronger than steel, yet incredibly lightweight and flexible. It is electrically and thermally conductive but also transparent. The world's first 2D material, it is one million times thinner than the diameter of a single human hair.

But the 'sticky tape' method would not work on an industrial scale. Since then, scientists have been working on manufacturing graphene, to make use of its incredible properties.

In 2010, Geim and Novoselov were awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics. Their discovery meant physicists could study a new class of two-dimensional materials with unique properties. 

 

Updated: August 09, 2022, 8:22 AM`