TEL AVIV, Israel -- Israel's Ministry of Defense (MoD) is overseeing development and production of four separate satellites, all of which are planned for completion by 2008, along with technologies and subsystems for a constellation of small, modular spacecraft capable of working as a team to satisfy multiple mission requirements.
According to the MoD roadmap, an unclassified portion of which was provided to Space News, Israel will complete its Ofeq-6 imaging satellite -- a follow-on to the Ofeq-5 electro-optical system launched in May 2002 -- in late 2004 or early 2005.
By 2008, MoD expects to complete the Ofeq-7 satellite, which officials here described as an entirely new generation of optical remote sensing, with extremely high resolutions.
Although officials here refused as a matter of security to discuss emerging capabilities of the Ofeq-5 or planned follow-on satellites, a source from Israel's scientific community said Israel was getting closer to the so-called defraction limit where light is defracted to a point where pictures cannot be captured.
"The defraction limit for visual range is close to 10 centimeters resolution. We're getting better resolutions all the time and getting closer to the limit, but we don't disclose details," the source said.
In addition to electro-optical satellites, Israel plans to complete a technology demonstrator satellite equipped with synthetic aperture radar (SAR) sometime in 2005 or 2006. The estimated 250 kilogram SAR demonstrator, dubbed TechSAR, will expand Israel's imaging options in all weather conditions and at night. |
