06.03.2005, 13:51
Zitat:Israel Building New Radar SatelliteQuelle: <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.isrjournal.com/story.php?F=700606">http://www.isrjournal.com/story.php?F=700606</a><!-- m -->
BY BARBARA OPALL-ROME
March 04, 2005
Israel’s Ministry of Defense and Elta Systems Ltd., a subsidiary of government-owned Israel Aircraft Industries (IAI), unveiled details of the TecSAR satellite, a low-earth orbiting synthetic aperture radar technology demonstrator planned for launch by the first half of 2006.
According to specifications displayed along with a mockup of the satellite during a Feb. 22 seminar at Elta’s headquarters in Ashdod, the satellite will weigh 300 kilograms, including the 100-kilogram SAR payload. The multimode payload employs electronic beam steering, which can be operated in strip-imaging mode, whereby synthetic apertures are targeted on wide geographical swaths; in spot-imaging mode which focuses on a specific, pre-assigned target; or in so-called mosaic mode, where the radar imager slews its focus on a number of spots in the same general target area.
The TecSAR — like Israel’s Ofeq series of spy satellites — will pass over specific target areas once every 90 minutes or so. But because the satellite’s SAR payload is capable of providing high-resolution imagery during the day, at night and in all weather conditions, it will provide double the amount of usable intelligence within a 24-hour, since the Ofeq’s electro-optical camera cannot capture imagery at night or through clouds and other climatic obstacles.