All Hell may be breaking loose in Gaza. But in Israel, some folks, at least, have their eyes on the sky. Early Monday morning, the Israelis launched a new, smallish spy satellite, the Ofeq-7.
The Future of Things explains why the thing is a relative pipsqueak -- just 660 pounds, compared to nearly 40,000 pounds for some American imaging orbiters.
*Due to its geographic location, unlike other countries, Israel is forced to launch its satellites in Western trajectory, in contrast to the Earth's direction of rotation. This situation makes it more difficult for the Israeli three-stage Shavit launcher to reach orbit, and decreases the size of its potential payload. Partly for this reason, Israel has been forced to invest in the development of smaller satellites. While countries like the U.S. and Russia launch spy satellites weighing many tons, Israeli companies... have cooperated in developing advanced mini-satellites weighing only a few hundred kilograms. Plans are also underway to develop a smaller generation of micro and even nano satellites weighing between several dozen kilograms and several kilograms or even less. *
All Hell may be breaking loose in Gaza. But in Israel, some folks, at least, have their eyes on the sky. Early Monday morning, the Israelis launched a new, smallish spy satellite, the Ofeq-7.
