Newly Launched Israeli Spy Satellite Transmits Back First Photographs - Israel News - Haaretz.com
Officials: Israeli Spy Satellite Working After Rocky Launch - ABC News
New Israeli intelligence satellite ‘sending back great images’ - Israel News - Jerusalem Post
More than a week after it was launched and ran into serious technical difficulties, the Ofek- 11 spy satellites began sending “great images” back to the ground control station, the Defense Ministry announced on Thursday evening.
Amnon Harari, head of the Space Administration in the Defense Ministry, and Ofer Doron, head of Israel Aerospace Industry’s MBT Space Division, said the satellite’s transponder and image broadcasting system began kicking in on Thursday, and that ground control officials were now seeing “operational results.”
Israel Launches Advanced Optical Reconnaissance Satellite – Spaceflight101
The Ofeq 11 satellite lifted off at approximately 14:30 UTC atop a Shavit-2 rocket blasting off from the Palmachim Airbase located on the Mediterranean Sea.
According to Israeli press, the satellite successfully reached orbit, but its health could not immediately be confirmed. Apparently, mission controllers were in contact with the satellite but found it in an anomalous condition and began attempts to stabilize the spacecraft.
The Ofeq 11 satellite reportedly inaugurates a new generation of imaging satellites, debuting a new, more-capable satellite platform and an enhanced imaging system collecting imagery at a ground resolution of 0.5 meters from the satellite’s 600-Kilometer orbit
Satnews Publishers: Israel's Sixth ISR Satellite, Ofek-11, Now Believed To Be Functioning Properly
Amnon Harari, head of the Space Administration in the Defense Ministry, and Ofer Doron, head of Israel Aerospace Industry’s MBT Space Division, said the satellite’s transponder and image broadcasting system began kicking in on Thursday and that ground control officials were now seeing “operational results.” The IAI-manufactured satellite was launched on September 13th and encountered some unspecified difficulties after entering orbit. Harari and Doron said the images they were now receiving “are what we hoped for,” though they declined to provide further details on the overall health of the satellite. Since the launch, engineers have been working to stabilize the satellite and the craft's on board systems, the Defense Ministry and IAI said in a joint statement. The teams systematically checked all of its systems from the moment of launch, and maintained continuous communication and control with it. Ofek-11 is part of the Ofek series of satellites and is Israel’s sixth active spy satellite and carries a SAR (Synthetic Aperture Radar), which has advanced day and night imaging capabilities.
Israel Concerned About 'Behavior' of Latest Spy Satellite – Ofek 11
Program officials say it could take days to discern specific reasons
for the undisclosed anomalies and to stabilize the situation.
Developed and produced by state-owned Israel Aerospace Industries,
Ltd., the 370-kilogram Ofek 11 with its 70-centimeter high-resolution
telescope by Elbit Systems Elop was launched late Tuesday afternoon from
Palmachim Air Base south of Tel Aviv.
Like all previous spy satellites launched from Israel, Ofek 11 was
launched westward, over the Mediterranean Sea, against Earth’s eastward
rotation.
A Sept. 13 Defense Ministry statement noted that it entered into its
planned retrograde low Earth orbit, and that government and IAI
technicians are continuing a series of preplanned tests.
Tal Inbar of Israel’s Fisher Institute for Strategic Air and Space
Studies noted that normally, the operational viability of remote sensing
satellites is clear within hours of launch. “This is the first time
that the situation of the satellite shortly after a successful launch is
not clear, and this concerns us,” he told Defense News.
“There is still a chance to bring all the satellite systems to an
operational state and that the satellite will perform as planned. But at
the moment, it is unclear whether efforts being conducted by the ground
crews will end up solving the problem,” Inbar said.
WORLD NEWSBRIEFS September 15, 2016 - JewishLink of New Jersey
Ofek-11 Surveillance Satellite Successfully Launched Into Space
(Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) Israel on Tuesday successfully launched the Ofek-11 surveillance satellite into space, mere weeks after the Amos-6 satellite, carrying state-of-the-art communications technology, was destroyed in a static test malfunction, just two days before it was scheduled to be launched into orbit.
The launch of the Ofek-11 satellite on Tuesday. (credit: Israeli Defense Ministry’s Administration for the Development of Weapons and Technological Infrastructure)
While Ofek-11 entered orbit as planned, it began experiencing technical issues that interrupted its steady communications with its control station, at the Palmachim Air Base in central Israel, almost
immediately.
“It is going to be a while before we can assess if this launch was fully successful; there are some issues that we are still concerned about,” an Israeli defense official said Tuesday night. “We can’t be 100 percent optimistic, but we are not 100 percent pessimistic either.”
Another official noted that “some things appear to be out of the ordinary, but we have yet to complete our assessment; we are trying to stabilize its systems.”
The Israel Aerospace Industries designed Ofek-11 as an all-weather radar imaging satellite that can provide imagery at all hours of the day. It was fitted with more sophisticated systems than the Ofek-10, which was launched from the same launch site in 2014.
The first Israeli satellite, Ofek-1, was launched into space in 1988. At the time, Israel was the eighth country to have successfully developed and launched a satellite into space. Today, 12 countries have
this capability.
WORLD NEWSBRIEFS September 15, 2016 - JewishLink of New Jersey
Ofek-11 Surveillance Satellite Successfully Launched Into Space
(Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) Israel on Tuesday successfully launched the Ofek-11 surveillance satellite into space, mere weeks after the Amos-6 satellite, carrying state-of-the-art communications technology, was destroyed in a static test malfunction, just two days before it was scheduled to be launched into orbit.
The launch of the Ofek-11 satellite on Tuesday. (credit: Israeli Defense Ministry’s Administration for the Development of Weapons and Technological Infrastructure)
While Ofek-11 entered orbit as planned, it began experiencing technical issues that interrupted its steady communications with its control station, at the Palmachim Air Base in central Israel, almost
immediately.
“It is going to be a while before we can assess if this launch was fully successful; there are some issues that we are still concerned about,” an Israeli defense official said Tuesday night. “We can’t be 100 percent optimistic, but we are not 100 percent pessimistic either.”
Another official noted that “some things appear to be out of the ordinary, but we have yet to complete our assessment; we are trying to stabilize its systems.”
The Israel Aerospace Industries designed Ofek-11 as an all-weather radar imaging satellite that can provide imagery at all hours of the day. It was fitted with more sophisticated systems than the Ofek-10, which was launched from the same launch site in 2014.
The first Israeli satellite, Ofek-1, was launched into space in 1988. At the time, Israel was the eighth country to have successfully developed and launched a satellite into space. Today, 12 countries have
this capability.
Related/Background
- Israeli Spy Satellite Ofek 11 Still Shaky Two Days After Space Launch - Israel News - Haaretz
- Israel launches Ofek spy satellite – officials confirm malfunctions | NASASpaceFlight.com
- Israel to 'Spy on the Middle East, Russia and China' With US-Funded Satellite
- Israeli Shavit Rocket Delivers Malfunctioning Spy Satellite Into Orbit - Universe Today
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