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History Forum / General / British History / April 2006Israel To Launch Spy Satellte To Monitor Iran: Report
Good For Israel! Launched From Russia... Now Let's See What Iran Does. DSH ------------------------------------------------- "Israel to launch "eye in the sky" over Iran: report" Tue Apr 25, 2006 By Ori Lewis JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel is set to launch on Tuesday a highly accurate imaging satellite which will enhance its ability to spy on Iran, a report in the mass circulation daily Yedioth Ahronoth said. Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz said this week that the nuclear program being pursued by arch-foe Iran was the most serious threat faced by Jews since the Nazi Holocaust. "The capabilities of the satellite speak for themselves. I do not need to say anything about what the purpose of its use might be," Shimon Eckhaus, the chief executive of manufacturer ImageSat International told Reuters. The Eros B satellite has a camera which can decipher objects on the ground as small as 70 centimeters (about two feet) across, the report said. Eckhaus confirmed the accuracy of the published details to Reuters. The report said Eros B will join an earlier version of the satellite, launched in December 2000. Both are set to augment the work of Israel's declared spy satellite, Ofek 5, which regularly passes over Arab territory. The Yedioth report said that Israel was planning to send up another spy satellite with the ability to view objects in all weather conditions and in darkness. The Eros satellites are effective only in daylight and in clear visibility. The launch comes at a time of heightened tension over Iran's nuclear program. The United States accuses Iran of seeking to build nuclear bombs and Washington has refused to rule out military options if diplomacy fails to curb the Islamic Republic's atomic ambitions. Iran says its nuclear program is peaceful and aimed at generating electricity. LAUNCHED FROM RUSSIA Like its predecessor in 2000, Eros B is set to be launched from the Svobodny Cosmodrome in the Russian Far East later on Tuesday using a Russian Start-1 rocket. It will orbit the Earth at a height of about 310 miles and will circle the globe roughly every 95 minutes, ImageSat said. The Eros satellites, which weigh under 770 lb, are among a number of small, lightweight satellites which Israel's space industry has perfected, Eckhaus said. Because of the country's geographical location and small size, the space industry generally favors smaller payloads that can more easily be launched from Israeli territory. "The fact that we are launching the satellite in Russia means that we can do so with the Earth's rotation and makes it more effective and gives it a longer life span," Eckhaus said. Israel is only able to launch small satellites westwards over the Mediterranean Sea -- opposite to the Earth's rotation -- because it cannot risk rockets flying over its Arab neighbors to the east or debris falling on their territory. The satellite manufacturer ImageSat International is partly owned by government-held Israel Aircraft Industries, the country's biggest defense company." ------------------------------ DSH Lux et Veritas et Libertas > Good For Israel! > [quoted text clipped - 78 lines] > > Lux et Veritas et Libertas Orbital, not geostationary, satellites are pretty worthless, especially if given such a public sendoff. Iran will do its secret stuff at night and in the times when this bucket is not able to see Iran. > Orbital, not geostationary, satellites are pretty worthless, especially > if given such a public sendoff. Iran will do its secret stuff at night > and in the times when this bucket is not able to see Iran. It could be a stealth sat that the Iranians can't pick up on radar. They would have to find it the old fanished way by seeing it cross over the night sky and even then I'm sure it can change its orbit throwing of the Iranians for abit till they relocate it and figure out its new orbit. In any case if the facilities are not underground you can't really hide new construction at a nuclear site and even if underground and work not done when satellite is overhead it may be able to pick up on recent activity in the area b/c of tracks in the desert, warm machinery sitting around etc. all clues to be examined. I heard the U.S uses various recon assets to monitor roads/roadsides in Iraq to pick up on subtle changes overnight like the melting of pavement to bury a I.E.D. and then covered up again...computers compare images etc. and warn if they see something. What suprises me is that Israel would go with Russians to launch their spy sat when they have their own launchers and could have the U.S. launch for them. The Russians may be cheaper but being they are hardly helpful in dealing with Iran and that letting them provide launch service may provide them a backdoor to take-over/cause the sat. to fail down the road. > > Orbital, not geostationary, satellites are pretty worthless, especially > > if given such a public sendoff. Iran will do its secret stuff at night [quoted text clipped - 19 lines] > service may provide them a backdoor to take-over/cause the sat. to fail > down the road. No surprise here, I felt a long time the world is nuts and not me. One says its not a good spy since Iran will work only at night ? Bet a buck Iran does all kinds of stupid things in broad daylight. That's how thing really work. Russian and Isreal together on work ? I bet they stole each other blind on secrets. Both will think they screwed the other. Dang it, If only there was a way to put this all on TV ! > > Orbital, not geostationary, satellites are pretty worthless, especially > > if given such a public sendoff. Iran will do its secret stuff at night [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > of the Iranians for abit till they relocate it and figure out its new > orbit. At 770 pounds, it's not going to have fuel to change its orbit very often. For that size and weight, I also wonder about the claim of 2-foot ground resolution. That would seem to require a somewhat larger primary aperture than you would get in a 770 pound satellite at 300miles altitude. > In any case if the facilities are not underground you can't > really hide new construction at a nuclear site and even if underground [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > I.E.D. and then covered up again...computers compare images etc. and > warn if they see something. If you're going to do much of that, you'd better know where to start looking. Tracking developments on a few dozen miles of highway is easier than searching a whole country. > What suprises me is that Israel would go with Russians to launch their > spy sat when they have their own launchers and could have the U.S. > launch for them. The Russians may be cheaper but being they are hardly > helpful in dealing with Iran and that letting them provide launch > service may provide them a backdoor to take-over/cause the sat. to fail > down the road. The US may be pickier about launching satellites for other countries. When is the last time the US launched a recon satellite for another country? Mark Borgerson >At 770 pounds, it's not going to have fuel to change its orbit very >often. For that size and weight, I also wonder about the claim >of 2-foot ground resolution. That would seem to require a somewhat >larger primary aperture than you would get in a 770 pound satellite >at 300miles altitude. But when it is shown that the Israelis are getting such good intelligence, the Iranians won't go looking for a man on the inside. -- Julian Richards medieval "at" richardsuk.f9.co.uk www.richardsuk.f9.co.uk Website of "Robot Wars" middleweight "Broadsword IV" THIS MESSAGE WAS POSTED FROM SOC.HISTORY.MEDIEVAL > Good For Israel! > > Launched From Russia... > > Now Let's See What Iran Does. Take it as disinformation, which it probably is. <snip> don't feed the trolls ! -- Jim Watt http://www.gibnet.com Well well! Can we assume from that the Israelis no longer trust the USA and their 50 million satellites over Iran? Can this we a frosting of relations between Israel and the USA? Or are they setting up the scene for Israel to bomb the beards off the Iranian Mad Mullahs after which the USA will "disavow" all knowledge of anything? Yum!Yum! Or is the USA and Israel > Good For Israel! > [quoted text clipped - 116 lines] > > Lux et Veritas et Libertas >Good For Israel! > >Launched From Russia... > >Now Let's See What Iran Does. But I thought that the Russians were on the Iranians' side, along with the French and the Chinese. -- Julian Richards medieval "at" richardsuk.f9.co.uk www.richardsuk.f9.co.uk Website of "Robot Wars" middleweight "Broadsword IV" THIS MESSAGE WAS POSTED FROM SOC.HISTORY.MEDIEVAL With friends like that, who needs enemies? |
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