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| Afghanistan-Pak-India |
| Israel Chooses Indian PSLV To Launch New Spy Satellite |
| 2005-11-12 |
| Israel Chooses Indian PSLV To Launch New Spy Satellite By BARBARA OPALL-ROME and K. S. JAYARAMAN Space News Correspondents TEL AVIV, Israel and NEW DELHI â In a controversial break from a longstanding military space policy of strategic self-reliance, Israel has decided to launch its next spy satellite aboard Indiaâs Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) rather than its own indigenous Shavit rocket. Officials here say Israelâs Ministry of Defense and state-owned satellite producer Israel Aircraft Industries Ltd. (IAI) are nearing conclusion with their Indian counterparts of all political and contractual agreements required for the planned October 2006 launch of the TechSAR, Israelâs first synthetic aperture radar imaging satellite. On the government-to-government level, officials said, a pre-existing bilateral accord on strategic cooperation already covers most aspects of the mission. In a Nov. 10 interview, a Ministry of Defense source estimated the PSLV launch cost at no more than $15 million, whereas the Shavit price tag ranges from $15 million to $20 million. The estimated 260-kilogram TechSAR is slated as the exclusive payload aboard the PSLV, which will be launched from the Indian Space Research Organisationâs Satish Dhawan Space Center on the nationâs southeastern coast. If all agreements are finalized in the coming months, as expected, IAI will ship the satellite to the Indian launch site by summer. Contacted by phone, officials in the Indian Space Research Organisation in Bangalore told PTI they cannot comment anything at this stage for 'confidentiality' reasons. India and Israel had signed an umbrella agreement for space collaboration a few months after the visit of Shimon Peres, the then deputy prime minister and minister for foreign affairs of Israel to ISRO on January 9, 2002. Under a separate agreement signed on December 25, 2003, ISRO is expected to launch Israel's TAUVEX telescope that will image the sky in the Ultra-Violet spectrum. The date for this launch is not fixed yet. |
| Posted by:john |
| #2 Interesting.. 1 m resolution for this bird... Israel Building New Radar Satellite BY BARBARA OPALL-ROME March 04, 2005 Israelâs Ministry of Defense and Elta Systems Ltd., a subsidiary of government-owned Israel Aircraft Industries (IAI), unveiled details of the TecSAR satellite, a low-earth orbiting synthetic aperture radar technology demonstrator planned for launch by the first half of 2006. According to specifications displayed along with a mockup of the satellite during a Feb. 22 seminar at Eltaâs headquarters in Ashdod, the satellite will weigh 300 kilograms, including the 100-kilogram SAR payload. The multimode payload employs electronic beam steering, which can be operated in strip-imaging mode, whereby synthetic apertures are targeted on wide geographical swaths; in spot-imaging mode which focuses on a specific, pre-assigned target; or in so-called mosaic mode, where the radar imager slews its focus on a number of spots in the same general target area. The TecSAR â like Israelâs Ofeq series of spy satellites â will pass over specific target areas once every 90 minutes or so. But because the satelliteâs SAR payload is capable of providing high-resolution imagery during the day, at night and in all weather conditions, it will provide double the amount of usable intelligence within a 24-hour, since the Ofeqâs electro-optical camera cannot capture imagery at night or through clouds and other climatic obstacles. In a Feb. 22 announcement, Elta noted that a powerful ground station is already deployed to task new missions via a high speed data link, which also downloads images for further exploitation and interpretation. The data link is capable of storing 240 giga-bytes of memory. Technology incorporated in TechSAR is based on more than two decades of development work at Elta, Israelâs radar development house. Operational SAR systems developed by Elta include the EL/M-2060P reconnaissance pod for fighters, which captures 50,000 kilometers of territory per hour at standoff ranges of up to 150 kilometers, and the EL/M-2055 for unmanned aerial vehicles and light aircraft, both of which are capable of detecting and tracking moving ground targets. IAI President and Chief Executive Moshe Keret said Elta, through its development and production of TechSAR, joins IAIâs other business units that contribute to Israelâs space-related capabilities. IAIâs MBT Division is prime contractor for four Israeli satellites currently in orbit: the military Ofeq-5, the commercial Earth Remote Observation Satellite (Eros-A), the Amos-1 and Amos-2 telecommunications satellites. Additionally, IAIâs MLM Division is prime contractor for the Shavit, three-stage rocket, which is expected to loft TechSAR into orbit. Although the Shavit failed to launch Israelâs Ofeq-6 into orbit last August due to a faulty electronic component, defense and industry sources here said Israelâs MoD is sticking with the indigenous system for upcoming launches of the Ofeq-7 as well as TechSAR. âOur ability to integrate SAR systems and similar technologies will enable our company to advance future business opportunities also in the sector of civilian space,â Keret told government and industry executives at the Elta seminar in late February. While security classifications prevented IAI and MoD officials from discussing the intended resolution for the planned TechSAR, sources here said the spacecraft should be capable of detecting objects as small as one-meter across. An expert at Israelâs Asher Space Research Institute, part of the Technion technical university of Haifa, noted that resolution of SAR satellites is usually determined by the size of the radarâs antennae when measured in the direction of movement, meaning that a SAR satellite with a two-meter antennae should generate imagery of about one meter, depending on orbiting altitude and other technical variables. |
| Posted by: john 2005-11-12 12:32 |
| #1 Guess TechSAR will be passing over Kashmir soon. |
| Posted by: john 2005-11-12 08:40 |