Israel´s Cache at Baikonur Space Centre - Political Forum

factfinder · #1 (**permalink**) 10-02-2007, 09:06 AM

Baikonur Cosmodrome near the Kazakhstan town Tyuratam ( not to get confused with the mining city Baikonur located 320 km northeast of the space centre),founded in 1955, is rented and administered by the Russian government until 2050. During the temporary lapse of the US space shuttle programme after the Columbia disaster in 2003 it has played an essential role in the resupply of the International Space Station …
Israel (MBT Space Division of Israel Aircraft Industries , the System,Missiles and Space Group being headed since 2003 by Joseph Weiss,Captain Navy with degree in mechanical engineering,who had managed major advanced missile programmes for IMOD ) has been having its Israeli department on the Baikonur Cosmodrome for many years, the Kazakhstan ambassador to Israel belongs to the most prominent ones …
In any case Baikonur is a hiding place where the US cannot peer into Israeli projects too closely ( In summer 07 the Israeli Air Force demonstrated its displeasure at the US „peering“ by pushing back the US aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln …) … Since 1996 the Russian rockets launched several Israeli communications and especially military surveillance satellites, satellite launch business being a very lucrative part of the Russian space industry … ( Israel has had luck with the Russian rockets so far unlike from the Japanese whose satellite was lost after the Russian Proton-M rocket exploded 139 seconds after a liftoff in September 07 … MOW does not worry much about the liquid heptyl fuel, a cancer causing substance, which fell on the ,though very scarcely, populated areas of this part of Kazakhstan …)

Xotica · #2 (**permalink**) 10-07-2007, 06:42 AM

Israel has/is using Russian orbital launch vehicles? The information below seems to contradict your information...

Quote:

Israel Eyes Foreign Launcher for TechSAR Spy Satellite
By Barbara Opall-Rome
Space News Correspondent
posted: 18 July 2005

Despite intensive efforts to improve the lifting performance and reliability of Israel's homegrown Shavit launcher, Tel Aviv strongly is considering use of a foreign rocket to loft its newest military satellite into orbit.

Defense and industry sources said Israel's Ministry of Defense and Israel Aircraft Industries (IAI) have initiated preliminary discussions with Russian, French and other launch providers on cost, schedule and technical aspects associated with IAI's TechSAR satellite.

The TechSAR spacecraft, the Israeli military's first synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellite, is planned for launch in 2006. Government-owned IAI also is prime contractor for the Shavit, a solid-fueled, three-stage rocket.

Possible launch of the TechSAR satellite by a foreign rocket could signal a setback for the Shavit program, which has been a source of national pride since it lofted Israel's first Ofeq spacecraft into low Earth orbit in 1988. But pragmatists within Israel's defense establishment note that Shavit has failed more than it has succeeded, and that the military cannot afford the loss of yet another space-based intelligence asset due to launch failure.

The latest failure occurred Sept. 6, 2004, when a malfunction in an electronic triggering device failed to ignite the third-stage motor. As a result Israel's Ofeq-6 spy satellite -- which the military had been counting on to enhance its overhead coverage of Iranian and other sensitive, high-threat areas -- plummeted into the Mediterranean Sea.

Supporters of the Shavit said a July 12 test of an improved rocket would bolster confidence in the indigenous launcher. However, all details associated with the test at an Israel Air Force base south of Tel Aviv have been classified as secret, preventing IAI and other industry executives from commenting on how the Shavit would benefit from demonstrated upgrades.

"We don't plan to release any information from the test," Yair Ramati, managing director of IAI's Malam division, which produces the Shavit, said July 13. A terse Israeli Ministry of Defense statement issued after the test noted, "A test was conducted within the framework of checking rocket ignition for the launch of satellites."

Tal Inbar, vice president of the Israel Space Society, noted that one of the recommendations of a committee tasked by the Ministry of Defense to investigate the latest Shavit failure called for dedicated test launches without the payload. "If yesterday's launch included successful separation of all the stages, which I believe it did, then this is certainly a positive step toward improved reliability," Inbar said July 13. "I also suspect that the test yielded needed data to enhance the lift capacity of the system."

According to Inbar, the Shavit program requires at least one test launch every two years in order to preserve the system as a viable option for inserting Israeli satellites into orbit. "There is no assembly line for the Shavit, and there's no off-the-shelf inventory to speak of. Launchers are essentially made to order, and if you have a launch once every three or four years, you begin to lose the industrial expertise."

With regard to the Shavit's track record, Inbar said, "Officially, the record is three failures and three successes. But there were more failures -- possibly four more -- that have never been acknowledged." He declined to elaborate on the unreported launch failures.

Inbar's assertion appeared to be supported by David Ivry, a former director-general of the Ministry of Defense, who told a conference audience earlier this year, "We've had more satellites on the ground than in space. The failures of satellites over time were too frequent."

Shavit proponents, however, note that all satellite launch programs experience numerous failures. "We simply cannot do without a national launch capability. We cannot depend on commercial services, which come with their own restrictions and limitations. If we do so, we risk privatization of our intelligence arms," said Uzi Rubin, a former director of Israel's Missile Defense Office.

Rubin said Israel's defense establishment would continue to work on upgrading the Shavit for future launches. He declined to discuss the July 12 test or how Shavit would benefit from test results.

With regard to the pursuit of an alternative, non-Israeli launch vehicle for the TechSAR satellite, defense and industry sources said it could be more a reflection of changing orbital requirements than a loss of confidence in the Shavit. According to these sources, the Ministry of Defense intends to offer TechSAR imagery of areas outside the Middle East to key export customers, which may necessitate a higher orbiting altitude than can be achieved with the Shavit.

"If they want to export this imagery, they're going to need a very high inclination that provides more imaging areas," said one industry source. The source noted July 13 that all Israeli-launched low-Earth orbiting satellites travel at lower positions than other satellites on polar trajectories because of the need to launch westward over the Mediterranean.

"We can't launch northward because of safety reasons and because we can't have our launchers and payloads ascending over neighboring enemy states. And by the laws of nature, that means our satellites are at less than 40 degrees. So if [the Ministry of Defense] is thinking about commercializing TechSAR, they're going to need a higher trajectory," he said.

Ministry of Defense spokeswoman Rachel Naidek-Ashkenazi and IAI spokesman Doron Suslik declined to comment July 13 on the possible foreign launch of TechSAR.

Israel Eyes Foreign Launcher for TechSAR Spy Satellite

Quote:

India To Orbit Israeli Spy Satellite In September
by Staff Writers
New Delhi, India (RIA Novosti) Jul 19, 2007

A leading Indian broadsheet quoted anonymous sources Wednesday as saying the country is planning to launch an Israeli spy satellite in September. According to information obtained by Times of India, the Indian Space Research Organization's (ISRO) time-proven four-stage Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle will carry a 260-kg satellite named TechSar from the Sriharikota space centre, on island off India's southern coast. The launch will cost around $15 million.

The paper said the launch would mark a crucial milestone in growing Indian-Israeli military ties, and that it was likely that some of the secret images taken by TechSar would be made available to India.

Developed by the Israeli aircraft industry, it will be Tel Aviv's first satellite with what is known as a synthetic aperture radar (SAR). This will allow the satellite to see small objects. SAR is also used by other moving devices on immobile targets, and has wide applications in remote sensing.

While ISRO officials confirmed the launch to the paper, they refused to give details, only saying it would be a "dedicated commercial launch for a foreign customer".

Experts say Israel opted for the Indian Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) for two reasons. It displays Israel's confidence in the Indian rocket over its own Shavit rocket, which has run into several operational problems in recent years. The Israeli-made rocket malfunctioned in September 2004, destroying an Ofeq-6 Israeli Defense Ministry satellite worth $100 million.

Secondly, the Israeli Defense Ministry has laid down new orbital requirements for TechSar which Shavit was unable to provide. The new requirements are aimed at giving TechSar a wider coverage area, the paper said.

In addition, using PSLV would save Israel $5 million, with the Shavit price estimated at $20 million.

If the mission succeeds, it will be the second spy satellite to be launched by India. The first was India's own Technology Experiment Satellite (TES), which carried by the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle in October 2001. It has so far functioned smoothly.

Prior to orbiting the Israeli spy satellite, India will launch the three-stage Geo Synchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) carrying the Insat-4CR communication satellite late August, the paper said.

In April, India made its first dedicated commercial launch of this year, orbiting Italia's Agile satellite.

India To Orbit Israeli Spy Satellite In September
Primary source: RIA Novosti

factfinder · #3 (**permalink**) 10-08-2007, 02:47 AM

Xotica, I am no expert on satellite launching, I am sure you know more than I, however , I believe the text you mention do not contradict my affirmation -Israel uses orbital launch vehicles from various countries : the contract for the individual satellite you are mentioning being signed with India ... In December 2000 the Russian rocket launched the Israeli Eros A1 and on 29th,December 03 Amos2 was launched on Soyuz FG rocket ..On April 25,06 a converted ballistic missile Topol ICBM,lighweight Star-1 booster, delivered an Israeli remote sensing satellite EROS-B1 from a mobile launcher deployed at the Svobodny in the Far East ... The mission of Eros B1 was criticised inter alia by the Iranian government considering its task is to monitor Iranian military activities,incl. its nuclear and missile programmes ...