Atreides 144 Posted April 29, 2008 India has successfully launched an Israeli spy satellite into orbit, officials at the Sriharikota space station in southern India say. The Israeli press is reporting that the satellite will improve Israel's ability to monitor Iran's military activities. Indian officials that given these sensitivities, the operation was secret and carried out under tight security. The Tecsar satellite - sometimes referred to as the Polaris - was put into space on Monday morning. 'Sinister tie-up' Tecsar is said to have enhanced footage technology, which allows it to transmit images regardless of daytime and weather conditions. It is considered to be one of the most advanced spy satellites that India has put into orbit to date. India is eager to compete in the world space technology market Correspondents say the launch was the second commercial mission on behalf of another country that has been carried out by the Indian Space Research Organisation. "It was a grand success," an unnamed official told the AFP news agency from the southern state of Andhra Pradesh. Israeli newspapers reported that both Israeli and Indian space engineers were at the launch, and that 80 minutes afterwards, the Israel Aerospace Industries' (IAI) ground station began receiving Tecsar's first signals. The 300kg (650-pound) satellite is reported to be Israel's most advanced space craft, and equipped with a camera that can take pictures in almost any weather conditions. Israel reportedly took the decision to launch the satellite from India three years ago, and asked for Delhi's help because it lacks a vehicle capable of boosting the satellite into a polar orbit. "The kind of low-earth polar orbit they are putting the satellite into, it is meant to give Israel the capability to keep an eye on the Iranian nuclear programme," an unnamed defence analyst told the AFP news agency. "This is bound to be seen in the Islamic world as a sinister tie-up between Israel and India," he said. Experts also say that the launch is an "important milestone" in the commercialisation of India's 45-year-old space programme, which put an Italian satellite in orbit in April last year for a fee of $11m. Correspondents say that India is eager to compete against the US, Russia, China, the Ukraine and the European Space Agency in providing commercial satellite launch services, a market worth about $2.5bn a year. India started its space programme in 1963, and has since designed, built and launched its own satellites into space. BBC link Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
+ghostrider883 526 Posted April 29, 2008 New Delhi: The Indian Space Research Organisation on Monday launched a polar satellite launch vehicle carrying a 690-kg Cartosat-2a remote sensing satellite and eight nano satellites from Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh. Carrying a record ten satellites as payload, PSLV-C9, the 13th flight of the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV), blasted off from the SHAR Range at 0923 hrs, today. Scientists cheered as the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, in its 13th flight, soared into the clear sky in a perfect lift off at 0923 hrs (IST) from the second launch pad. An elated ISRO Chief, G Madhvan Nair confirmed the success of the mission. "We couldn't detect slightest deviation from designated trajectory. It shows the mission was perfect and spacecraft delivered on the dot." Apart from the Indian Mini Satellite and eight foreign nano satellites, the PSLV will also will put into orbit a latest remote sensing satellite. It's for the first time that the Indian space agency is attempting the liftoff. Russia had placed 16 satellites simultaneously in space in April last year. But as against the 824 kg payload being carried by the PSLV, the Russian mission carried only a 300 kg payload. NLS-4 developed by University of Toronto, Canada, consists of six nanosatellites developed by various Universities. Two of them, CUTE 1.7 and SEEDS were built in Japan, while the other four - CAN-X2, AAUSAT-II, COMPASS-1 AND DELPHI-C3 - were built in Canada, Denmark, Germany and Netherlands respectively. The eight nano satellites were built to develop nano-technologies for use in satellites as well as for the development of technologies for satellite applications. This would be the 13th flight of PSLV, the workhorse launch vehicle of the ISRO, and third flight with 'core-alone' configuration. The sources said that about 885 sec after lift off and after separation from the fourth stage, PSLV-C9 would inject the main payload Cartosat-2A in the Polar Sun Synchronous Orbit at a height of 635 km with an inclination of 97.94 degree with respect to the equator. It would be followed by the separation and injection of IMS-1 about 930 secs after the launch. After this, eight nano satellites would get separated and placed in the intended orbit in sequence. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Nesher 628 Posted April 29, 2008 it's not a spy sat, it's a communication satellite "Amos 3" Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JediMaster 451 Posted April 29, 2008 The line between the 2 is blurring lately. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
+Typhoid 231 Posted April 29, 2008 it's not a spy sat, it's a communication satellite "Amos 3" it communicates pictures.... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
