Launch News The Israelis are back! Shavit-II launch with Ofeq-10, April 9, 2014

Cosmic Penguin

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Spaceflight quiz question: how many nations in the world have the ability to throw something into space by themselves? ;)

Of course there's the "big 6" - the Americans, the Russians, the French (well that's ambiguous nowadays since other Europe nations share the workload - but isn't Europe almost one nation anyway? Well there is, ahem was the British, but you all know what happened.... :rofl:), the Chinese, the Japanese, and the Indians - all of which you guys have seen lots.

Then there are the much maligned Iranians and North Koreans - which I have covered their recent launches too (although it seems that both of them have seen decreased activity on the spaceflight arena recently).

And who else? Ah yes, I have forgotten one - but that's because they haven't done one for the past few years. But finally I got the chance to report on the secretive Israelis doing a satellite launch!

Ofek10Launch700i.jpg


For the first time in almost 4 years Israel has launched a spysat into orbit. On April 9 at around 19:00 UTC, a Shavit rocket (comet in Hebrew) launched Ofeq-10 (Horizon-10 in Hebrew), their newest radar reconnaissance satellite, into a reported 600 km low Earth orbit, from the Palmachim AFB just outside Tel Aviv. This is their first satellite launch since June 22, 2010.

Shavit_Ofeq10_20140409.jpg


The Shavit rocket is a 3-stage all-solid rocket jointly developed by Israel and South Africa in the 1980s (although South Africa dropped out in the early 1990s after its major shake-up), and is apparently sharing components with the Jericho ICBM. Due to Israel's position, they have to launch all satellites out west on the Mediterranean, which means all of their spysats ends up in retrograde orbits with inclinations somewhere around 140 degrees. This one is no exception, although in this case it may actually offer an advantage of getting higher resolution via the Doppler effect.

The satellite is probably similar to an earlier one named TecSAR developed jointly with (and launched by) the Indians, offering sub-meter resolution with only a 300 kg satellite - typical of the advanced weapons technology of the Israelis.

show_file.php


SPAC_Satellite_TecSar_Details_lg.jpg




P.S. There are actually 2 Orbiter add-ons for the Israel space program (!): http://www.orbithangar.com/download.php?ID=3185 and [ame="http://www.orbithangar.com/searchid.php?ID=4808"]http://www.orbithangar.com/searchid.php?ID=4808[/ame]
 

MattBaker

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I wonder if that would still be a big issue today. Back in the 70s and 80s yes but now? I doubt it.
 

boogabooga

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So long as the satellite is light enough, there is not much issue.

However, consider the consequences of an impact with a tiny piece of prograde space debris. Relative velocity will be very high and such collisions will be very energetic.
 

Arrowstar

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We have pictures of an Israeli spy satellite?
 

boogabooga

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I much rather meant that there is an issue with launching east.:tiphat:

Because a rocket falling out of the sky into Jordan would not cause any confusion under current circumstances...

:facepalm:
 

RisingFury

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but isn't Europe almost one nation anyway?


Oh, you just wait until one of the French orbinauts reads this. You'll never hear the end of it :lol:

---------- Post added at 05:00 ---------- Previous post was at 04:54 ----------

However, consider the consequences of an impact with a tiny piece of prograde space debris. Relative velocity will be very high and such collisions will be very energetic.


Highest probability of collisions is in the 600 km altitude area, but only for orbits with very high inclination - those that end up flying over the poles. The highest probability for collision is in the polar region, because all of the different orbits with different LAN meet up there.

If you have two orbits that differ by say 90°, it doesn't really matter what direction the satellite goes, the relative velocity will be very high. Beyond that, it doesn't really matter if it's a 4 km / s or 10 km / s. The devastation and the result will be pretty much the same.
 

IronRain

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Uh-oh :shifty:
Zarya.info said:
Imaging satellite - improved version of the earlier Navid (2012-005A/38075). Failure was reported via Iran-based web discussion forums but is unconfirmed. Reportedly the upper stage shut down 3s early and the satellite re-entered (probably above the Southern Ocean). Probably aimed at 300 km, 55°-56° inclination.
 

Cosmic Penguin

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Uh-oh :shifty:

Well does that have anything to do with this satellite? :confused:

Actually there were many rumors of Iranian satellite launches that failed since the last one went into orbit in February 2012 - this is at least the 4th one. However none of them have any direct evidences - I think there were satellite imagery that may be suggestive that there were 2 in 2012, but even that is absent from the latest cases. I have not bothered to report on that simply because there were too many promises of satellite launches before that didn't happen (and even that has quieted down since the new president went up last year).
 
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