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Antrix Launches Israeli Satellite Using Commercial PSLV Rocket
Bangalore, India (SPX) Jan 22, 2008 The Indian Space Research Organization's Antrix Corporation has successfully launched an Israeli spy satellite using its second full-scale commercial mission of the PSLV launcher. The PSLV-C10 blasted off from the First Launch Pad (FLP) at the SDSC SHAR spaceport at 09:15 Hrs with the ignition of the first stage. This was 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. The first major commercial launch of a PSLV vehicle (PSLV-C8) took place on April 23, 2007, when India successfully launched the Italian astronomical satellite, AGILE. The 300 kg Israeli spy satellite TECSAR was placed into its intended orbit with a perigee of 450 km and apogee of 580 km with an orbital inclination of 41 deg with respect to the equator. TECSAR was in orbit 1,185 seconds 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. In addition, the PSLV was used to launch India's domestic designed and built weather satellite, Kalpana-1, into Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO). PSLV is also slated to launch India's first spacecraft to moon, Chandrayaan-1, in 2008. TECSAR is a Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) Technology satellite. The design, development and fabrication activities of the satellite were led by MBT Space, a division of the Israeli Aerospace industries with the participation of other high tech industries such as ELTA, Tadiran Spectralink, Rafael. The satellite is equipped with a SAR payload with the capability to see through the clouds and carry out day and night all weather imaging of friend and foe with particular emphasis upon regional adversaries such as Iran that many believe to be building a nuclear weapons program. Related Links ISRO Launch Pad at Space-Travel.com
Russia To Launch Two Telecom Satellites On Jan 28 And Feb 10
Moscow (RIA Novosti) Jan 18, 2008Russia is to launch two communication satellites in the coming weeks from the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan, a leading Russian space company said on Thursday. The Khrunichev State Research and Production Center said the Proton-M rocket, carrying an Express-AM33 satellite, was on schedule for take-off on January 28. |
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