The world's lightest commercial satellite will provide high-quality images of the Earth
ImageSat International announced today that it successfully launched the Eros A1 photography satellite using the Start 1 launcher from the Cosmodrome site in the Svobodny region, Siberia. The satellite was launched into a sun-synchronized satellite orbit at an altitude of 480 km above the earth. Eros, A1 weighing only 250 kg, is the lightest commercial satellite in the world designed for high-resolution photographs of the Earth. It is designed to provide high quality digital photography services for a wide range of commercial applications.
The satellite was launched at 14.30 (GMT 12.30 Israeli time, 21.30 Siberian time) and separated from the launcher about 15 minutes after ignition. Immediately after separation from the launcher, contact was established between the satellite and the company's ground station in the city of Kirona, Sweden, and again 90 minutes later, upon completion of the first round of the Earth. In a few weeks, the satellite will begin to provide commercial services, with the completion of the test phases in space.
"For ImageSat International and our partners around the world, the launch is the most important milestone we have reached to date, which we have been looking forward to and for which we have worked for a long time." Said Jacob Weiss, CEO of ImageSat International. "Eros A1 is the first in an array of photography satellites that the company intends to launch into space in the first half of the decade. With the help of our technologies, which offer an excellent cost-effectiveness ratio and an international strategy of collaborations, we can offer our customers a completely new concept of products and services in the field of digital photography from space."
Eros A1 was designed, built and tested by the Mabte plant of the Aerospace Industry, which specializes in high-resolution photography satellites.
The light weight of the photography satellite ensures maximum flexibility and stability that offers high quality photography in large volumes - and at very competitive prices. Satellites moving in a sun-synchronized orbit are optimal for applications that require the diagnosis of changes on the Earth's surface, since they pass every day at the exact same time over every point in their orbit.
Eros A1 will cross the equator at 09.45 am. Eros satellites that will be launched in the future will expand the time dimension, that is, their crossing times over each point will range between mid-morning and mid-afternoon. In this way it will be possible to compensate for poor visibility conditions that will arise from clouds at different heights. ImageSat International's planned array of satellites, once it is placed and operated in space, will allow the company's customers to photograph every point on Earth several times a day.
ImageSat International offers global coverage as well as an access speed approaching real time for all the photographs that will be taken by the Eros A1 satellite. The access speed is based on strategic cooperation agreements with 14 ground stations that specialize in photograph reception, storage, processing and distribution. (Acquisition, Archiving and Distribution stations - AAD). ImageSat and its partner ground stations have installed a unique electronic distribution system based on the Imagenet system that is used for cataloguing, storage and electronic commerce operations on the Internet. ImageSat's system will allow customers all over the world to search for and locate photographs taken by Eros satellites and receive them within a few hours of ordering. ImageSat's unique strategy in the field of space and the array of ground stations will provide the last word in the field of purchasing and supplying quality photographs from space to customers all over the world and at affordable prices for all.
The Israeli Eros satellite to be launched on Tuesday will be launched from Siberia with the help of a Russian rocket
An Israeli satellite, the lightest of its kind in the world, will be launched into space this Tuesday using a Russian rocket. The Eros A1 satellite was developed and built at the Mbat plant of the aerospace industry, using technology similar to that of the Ofek spy satellite. A previous attempt to launch the satellite was canceled last April, because the Russian missile failed vibration tests.
On Tuesday of next week, if all the tests are completed successfully and if there are suitable conditions, Eros A1 will be launched from the Svobodni launch site in Siberia,
Using a powerful missile - Start. 1
Eros A1 is the lightest civilian satellite in the world and weighs only 250 kg, about half the weight of civilian satellites in space today. According to the launchers, it will be possible to send images from the satellite in higher quality than is customary today.
The owner of the satellite, Image-Set International, a subsidiary of the aerospace industry, recently completed a capital raising of approximately 93 million dollars.
The launch next week will be the first of a series of eight, which together will form a network for sending high-resolution images to ground stations in different countries around the world.
About Image - the company that launched the Israeli photography satellite Eros 1
ImageSat International, a company registered in the Netherlands Antilles with management offices in Cyprus, provides a new level of information about the world. ImageSat will provide high-resolution satellite images through an array of satellites, efficient distribution channels and a worldwide program of business partners.
About the company
ImageSat is an international satellite company that applies advanced technologies of its kind for the purpose of developing and marketing information services and products in the field of spatial geography through an array of high-resolution commercial photography satellites that will be placed in space in the coming years in a sun-synchronized orbit. The company, which was founded in 1997, was originally established by a corporation of leading companies around the world in the fields of satellite, photography (Sensor) and information management, among them: the Israel Aerospace Industries, Alope and the American CST company. In 2000, a group of investors from Europe and the United States invested an amount of about 90 million dollars in the company, which is dedicated to financing the first phase of the planned satellite array.
ImageSat combines advanced technologies of its kind developed for lightweight, highly flexible satellites capable of high-resolution photography together with the latest in technologies for online and distributed electronic browsing, electronic distribution of images and electronic commerce. All of these provide customers with easy, fast and convenient access to information from satellite images that allow diagnosing, identifying and locating a wealth of details on any point on Earth. ImageSat has developed an integrated program that optimizes the flow of information into a functional and cohesive process. The 14 ground stations around the world that are partners in the program "download" the image files from the satellites, process and store them. The images are available and accessible to users all over the world a few hours after they are received from the satellite using the data-meta system and through the ImageNet satellite distribution network
Eros satellites are characterized by high performance, low costs, light weight, great flexibility and are designed to move in a low orbit above the earth's surface (LEO - Low Earth Orbit). The satellites are based on the creative use of diverse, advanced technologies of their kind, whose capabilities go above and beyond anything considered possible to date. Due to their low weight and ability to change direction and stabilize quickly, Eros satellites are equipped with an unprecedented ability to "capture" a large number of specific images with the highest level of accuracy.
Eros satellites are divided into two types: A and B. Eros A satellites weigh 250 kg at the time of launch and they move at an altitude of 480 km above the earth's surface. Each satellite carries a flat-focus Charged Coupled Device (CCD) camera with over 7,000 pixels in a row, producing an image with a resolution of 1.8 meters. The satellites are able to reach a resolution of 1 meter by increasing the number of "samples" in each unit of time. Eros A1 satellites carry an amount of fuel sufficient for movement in space for at least 6 years.
Eros B satellites weigh 350 kg at the time of launch and they move at an altitude of 600 km above the Earth. They carry a Charge Coupled Device/Time Delay Integration (CCD/TDI) flat focus camera that allows photography even in extremely low light conditions. The system produces images with a resolution of 0.82 meters.
All the sub-systems in both types of satellites (with the exception of the photography system) are duplicated in order to avoid a single point of failure. Eros satellites will move in an orbit that will pass over the Earth's poles. They move in a sun-synchronized orbit, so that any image taken by any satellite will always be taken by that satellite at the same time (local time) regardless of the day, month or year.
ImageSat International's sun-synchronized satellite array will provide the world's highest frequency of repeated daily images, in such a way as to provide the most up-to-date information to support decision-making processes and ongoing monitoring of what is happening on Earth.
