Israeli 'spy satellite' launched by Indian rocket

Israeli 'spy satellite' launched by Indian rocket

News Update Service
Monday, January 21, 2008 : 1740 Hrs
http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/000200801211758.htm

Sriharikota (PTI): India on Monday successfully placed an Israeli "spy satellite" in the polar orbit after a textbook launch carried out under a veil of secrecy from the Sriharikota space station.

The homegrown Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C10) carrying the advanced 300-kg satellite TECSAR or Polaris as it is sometimes called lifted off flawlessly from the First Launch Pad (FLP) at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at 0915 hours as scheduled, a statement by the Indian Space Research Organisation(ISRO) said here.

The commercial satellite, which has a Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR), an advanced radar system, was placed in its intended orbit in 19 minutes 45 seconds after a perfect lift-off, ISRO said.

The satellite is reported to be Israel's most advanced satellite and the radar system allows it to view much more than its existing Ofek satellites that use cameras.It can take pictures of small targets under cloudy and foggy conditions and carry out day and night and all weather imaging. The first pictures are expected to be beamed in two weeks.

It is expected to give a boost to Israel's intelligence gathering capabilities and help keep an eye on its hostile neighbours.( The "spy" satellite is of great importance to Israel as it will be able to track the goings-on in the territory of its main enemy Iran and its alleged efforts to develop nuclear arms, an AP report from Jerusalem said quoting Defence officials).

The satellite was placed its intended orbit with a Perigee (nearest point to earth) of 450 km and Apogee (farthest point to earth) of 580 km, the ISRO statement said.

"The TECSAR is the first satellite of its kind developed in Israel, and ranks among the world's most advanced space system," according to a statement by IAI.

The launch of the satellite was executed under a commercial contract between Israel Aerospace Industries (AIA) and Antrix Corporation, the release said. The decision by Israeal to take India's help was taken three years back.

TECSAR is a Synthetic Aperture Radar technology satellite, the design, development and fabrication of which were led by MBT Space, a division of the Israeli Aerospace industries with participation of other high-tech industries such as ELTA, Tadiran, Spectralink and Rafael.

This is the second time that a "core alone" PSLV configuration had put a foreign satellite into orbit, meaning only the main PSLV vehicle was used for the TECSAR launch. The additional strap-on engines or booster motors tot ake up more than 600 kg payloads of satellites were not used.

In April 2007, an Italian satellite Agile was put into orbit in such a configuration.

The launch of the radar-imaging, remote-sensing satellite, was shrouded in secrecy. The launch was originally scheduled in September 2007 though no date was specified.

A section of the media had speculated that the launch was abandoned following 'pressure' from some countries, a claim strongly denied by ISRO, which cited non-resolution of technical issues as the reason for the delay.