Hayadan > Successful launch of the two Israeli satellites - Venus and Offset 3000

Successful launch of the two Israeli satellites - Venus and Offset 3000

Both satellites were released and passed over Israel successfully.

Simulation of the flight of the upper stage of the Hoga launcher with the Israeli satellites Offset 3000 and Venus on it, about half an hour after the launch that took place on August 2, 2017 at 04:58 - . On the right - a graph showing the progress of the launch compared to the planned. From the live broadcast of the Ariane company. — Simulation of the flight of the upper stage of the Hoga launcher with the Israeli satellites Offset 3000 and Venus on it, about half an hour after the launch that took place on August 2, 2017 at 04:58 - . On the right side - a graph showing the progress of the launch compared to the planned. From the live broadcast of the Ariane company.

The launch tape. Courtesy of the Israel Space Agency at the Ministry of Science

Nine seconds after the launch of Venus and Offset 3000. Screenshot

Update for 11:00
Both satellites passed over Israel successfully.

Update as of 05:35

It appears a successful launch of the Vega 5 launcher with two Israeli-made satellites on it - Venus and Offset 3000.
The Israeli satellites were launched at 04:58 from the launch center of the European Space Agency in Kourou in French Guinea, a colony located on the northern coast of Brazil.

According to the live broadcast it seems that even after over ten minutes, the launcher is still on the line it was designed for. After the combustion of the first stages, the upper stage with the satellites is already in space, and now they are waiting for the release of the satellites. Offset 3000 will be released first, followed by Venus.
The launch was made in a south-north direction, and this to allow both satellites trajectories that cross the poles. At least for Venus, it is about a path that will allow it to reach the same point from the same angle once every two days, as Ofer Doron, CEO of the Mabat Halal plant of the aerospace industry, said earlier in an interview with the Hidaan website.

Offset 3000 is a satellite for military missions built by the aerospace industry and sold to the Ministry of Defense of Italy. This is a satellite that combines radar and optical observation capabilities, and which is also required for a polar orbit. At least this is what appears from recorded messages of the heads of the Italian space industry.

Venus, built in recent years at a space plant of the Israel Aerospace Industries, is the first civilian Israeli satellite built at the initiative of the Israel Space Agency in the Ministry of Science and is considered the smallest of its kind in the world. The satellite will monitor fields and natural areas from space for environmental research purposes, while monitoring soil condition, vegetation, forestry, agriculture, quality of water bodies and more.
Venus is equipped with a special camera that can pick up details on the Earth's surface in 12 wavelengths, including details that are not visible to the eye. The satellite will photograph fixed areas in Israel and around the world and will provide researchers with dozens of images every day, each of which will cover approximately 760 square kilometers. The satellite orbit allows a return time of once every two days to photograph the same areas and from the same viewing angle. Venus will circle the Earth 29 times in 48 hours and provide images once every two days while returning to exactly the same shooting angle, which will allow frequent changes in vegetation, soil, beaches, inland water bodies and atmosphere to be detected. The combination of these features is unique to Venus, and they give it an advantage over other environmental satellites currently operating in space.

For the live broadcast on the Israel Space Agency website