[FPSPACE] Israeli-built SAR satellite to be launched by India this week

[Keith Gottschalk]

Dear friends

  it's hardly difficult to guess the inclination of the orbit for any Israeli recon sat! 

   It would be, at highest, the northernmost latitude of Iran's northern border. After all, the only countries that Israel's military want photos & radar photos of are those in the Middle East.  And even a 40 degree inclination already means that its spysat will "waste" a lot of its orbit flying over nothing more than the whales south of Cape Town and Perth

     It's true, as another FPSPACEr noted, if you want to run the photovoltaic cells 24/7, you would need to place it in about a 90 degree inclination tracking the terminator. But consider how limited is the area that its launchers are suspicious of. In contrast to Keyhole satellites that flew over the Latvia - Chukchi peninsula area, Ofeq 7 might only switch on its radar for 15 degrees of latitude or longitude per 360 degrees, ie a max. of 5% of an orbit. 

    And if it's not nighttime, clouds nor fog, Ofeq 7 might not switch on its radar at all, or only over one or two AFB or other specific premises. Also, since the only point of an Indian Sriharikota launch is to launch eastwards, Ofeq can carry at least one-tenth more mass, which its manufacturer might have prioritized for extra photovoltaic cells & storage batteries.

your southern Keith

>>>> "Gunter Krebs" <gunter.krebs at skyrocket.de> 09/21/07 5:51 PM >>>
>The orbit will not be a 142° orbit. This information is from the time, when
>an Ofeq launch was planned. Reportedly it will be launched in eastern
>direction, but my source could not provide a value for the inclination.
>
>Gunter Krebs

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