Fear of damage to Israel's strategic warning capability; The security system uses satellite images of commercial companies; The satellite has been transmitting images from space for more than five years
24.9.2001
By: Amnon Barzilai, Haaretz
Contact with the Israeli photography satellite "Ofek" 3, which transmitted images from space for more than five years, has been lost, Haaretz has learned. There is a fear that the satellite's decline will harm Israel's strategic warning capability. "Ofek" 3 circled the Earth once for about 90 minutes in a low elliptical orbit, at a height of about 450 km above the Earth. The satellite hovered parallel to the equator, and also north of it, over the Middle East, and visited each point once every 3 - 4 days.
Following the decline of "Ofek" 3 and in order to avoid harming Israel's strategic warning capability, the defense establishment now relies on the satellite images of two commercial companies: one is "Imagesat International", which is owned by Israeli companies and private investors, and the other is a foreign company.
