India’s satellite launch vehicle PSLV on Monday put a 300-kg Israeli satellite into near earth orbit 15 minutes after liftoff from Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota in what Indian Space Research Organisation chairman G Madhavan Nair described as “yet another milestone” that proved the launch capability of the vehicle.
The TECSAR satellite of Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), which can see through the cloud day and night and image the earth through use of radar, was launched by Anthrax Corporation, the commercial wing of ISRO.
The satellite was placed into its intended orbit with a perigee (nearest point to earth) of 450 km with an orbital inclination of 41 deg with respect to the equator. TECSAR was placed in orbit 1185 seconds after lift off.
This is the second commercial launch of a foreign satellite. The first major commercial launch of PSLV (PSLV-C8) took place on April 23, 2007, when it successfully launched an Italian astronomical satellite, AGILE.
Challenging feat
Mr Nair, who witnessed the launch at Sriharikota, said that the vehicle was stripped down with no strap-on motors to match the light weight satellite. The challenge was in putting it in the precise orbit as per the contract. “We had to go almost along the equatorial path and then do a difficult manoeuvre to achieve the 41 degree inclination,” he said.
Asked whether it was a spy satellite, Mr Nair said, “Any satellite can be put to many uses. For example, India was using radar images from a similar Canadian satellite for monitoring the monsoon.”
He said a similar radar imaging satellite was being developed at the Space Application Centre at Ahmedabad, which will be launched by the end of this year or early next year.
Anthrax Corporation chief K R Sridhara Murthi said, “India won the contract in the face of stiff international competition. He said normally the international launch rate was US $ 15,000 to 20,000 a kg and we quoted a higher price and won it.”
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.
