Luke_Wilbur Posted January 23, 2008 Report Share Posted January 23, 2008 Management of Israel Aerospace Industries Ltd. (IAI) announced that an advanced imaging satellite produced by IAI, employing synthetic aperture radar (SAR) technology, was successfully launched into orbit today (January 21, 2008, 05:45 Israel time) on an Indian Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV). The satellite, under the brand name TECSAR, was launched at the SHAR test field in southeast India in collaboration with a team of Indian and Israeli experts. The launch was carried out in accordance with a cooperation agreement between the Government of India and IAI relating to space activities. The TECSAR's signal was received at the IAI ground station 80 minutes after launch (07:10 Israel time), immediately upon its reaching the station communication range. By all indications so far, the satellite is functioning properly. The satellite is now orbiting the Earth, and IAI's engineers and scientists have commenced the prescribed series of in-orbit tests to verify its performance. Due to the complexity of the TECSAR, as compared to satellites previously produced by IAI, the in-orbit tests are scheduled to continue for several weeks, and the first images are scheduled for receipt 14 days after launch. The TECSAR is the first satellite of its kind developed in Israel, and ranks among the world's most advanced space systems. It carries a SAR payload, designed to provide images during day, night and all weather conditions, including under cloud cover. The satellite is controlled and monitored by an IAI-based ground station. This satellite was designed, built and integrated by IAI's scientists and engineers, with the MBT Space division acting as prime contractor and Elta Systems Ltd., an IAI subsidiary, provided the SAR payload. The project included contributions from other IAI divisions, as well as from leading Israeli hi-tech companies such as Rafael, Tadiran-Spectralink and Rokar. The TECSAR joins an impressive list of satellites developed, produced and launched by IAI. As of today, 11 satellites from the Ofeq, EROS and Amos brands have been launched, including seven satellites currently in orbit. These successes contributed to IAI's recent award of a material contract to develop the Amos 4 communications satellite. Itzhak Nissan, IAI's President & CEO said: "IAI's management is very proud of this achievement, which serves as additional proof of IAI's great technological and administrative capabilities, and of IAI's leadership in the Israeli space industry and other areas of advanced technology." http://www.iai.cospam/sip_storage/files/4/35694.wmv Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luke_Wilbur Posted January 23, 2008 Author Report Share Posted January 23, 2008 Here is a press release from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, SHAR Antrix Corporation is happy to announce that its second full-fledged commercial launch has been successfully completed today. After the final count down, PSLV-C10 lifted off from the First Launch Pad (FLP) at SDSC SHAR at 09:15 Hrs with the ignition of the first stage. Incidentally this is the 25th Satellite Launch Mission from SDSC, SHAR. The launch of TECSAR was executed under a commercial contract between Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) and ANTRIX Corporation. It may be recalled that the first major commercial launch of PSLV (PSLV-C8) took place on April 23, 2007, when it successfully launched an Italian astronomical satellite, AGILE. The 300 kg TECSAR satellite was placed into its intended orbit with a perigee (nearest point to earth) of 450 km and apogee (farthest point to earth) of 580 km with an orbital inclination of 41 deg with respect to the equator. TECSAR was placed in orbit 1185 sec after lift off. PSLV has emerged as the workhorse launch vehicle of ISRO with eleven consecutively successful flights so far. Since its first successful launch in 1994, PSLV has launched eight Indian remote sensing satellites, an amateur radio satellite, HAMSAT, a recoverable space capsule, SRE-1, and two primary satellites and six small satellites for foreign customers. Besides, it has launched India’s exclusive meteorological satellite, Kalpana-1, into Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO). PSLV is also slated to launch India’s first spacecraft to moon, Chandrayaan-1, in 2008. http://www.isro.org/pressrelease/Jan21_2008.htm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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