Jan 21 2008
From The Space Library
Israel’s state-owned Israel Space Industries (ISI) successfully launched a military reconnaissance satellite aboard an Indian Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle from the Sriharikota test site in India at 03:45 (UT). The 300-kilogram (661-pound) satellite TechSAT, or Polaris, carried a Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) developed by ISI’s subsidiary Elta Systems. The SAR had the capability of producing 1-meter (3-foot) resolution images at all times of day and in all weather conditions. News media reported that Israel’s Ministry of Defense, which had already assigned to the satellite a strategic-intelligence-gathering mission, would be the principal user of this technology—the first of its kind for Israel. The launch, repeatedly delayed because of weather and technical problems, marked the first satellite collaboration between Israel and India.
Barbara Opall-Rome, “India Launches Israeli Radar Satellite,” Space.com, 25 February 2008, http://www.space.com/news/080122-sn-israel-india.html (accessed 14 December 2010); Spacewarn Bulletin, no. 651.
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