Resolution Imaging from S
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Hi g h - R eesollutionn Imaging FFroomm S A World-Wide Survey (Part II - Asia) Asia is an area where currently there is a huge activity in terms of building and military authorities. Costs soared with little to show for them. Eventually, in May 2002, launching satellites with a high-resolution imaging capability. Already six high-resolu- Ofeq-5 was launched and apparently oper- ates very successfully. According to the tion satellites have been built in Asiatic countries and are operational, including two Israeli press, it produces imagery with a 1m ground pixel size. each from Israel, India and Japan. Another high-resolution satellite belonging to Taiwan Further Ofeq Satellites is due to be launched within the next month or so. A further five are scheduled to be It would appear that Israel's military recon- naissance programme, is now back on launched within the period 2004-2005 and still more are planned to be orbited during track. Ofeq-6, which is similar to Ofeq-5, is planned to be launched later this year the rest of the decade. As will be seen, the vast majority of these satellites are being (2004). Ofeq-7 is to be a new satellite design to produce very high-resolution launched with national security considerations in mind. imagery in the sub-metre (0.1 to 0.25m) By Prof. Gordon Petrie range. In between Ofeq-6 and -7, it is planned to launch TechSAR, some time in the period 2005-2006. As the name sug- Ofeq-3 satellite was gests, it is a technology demonstration (a) (b) launched and oper- satellite equipped with a SAR, that is being ated successfully till developed by the Elta company, which 2000. It produced already builds the airborne SARs used by imagery with a 2m the Israeli Air Force. Israel is also consider- ground pixel size. ing the development of a constellation of Ofeq-3 was micro-satellites capable of being launched launched westwards from F-15 fighter aircraft. It is interesting to over the note too that, in August 2003, Israel and Mediterranean, Brazil signed an agreement that would instead of in the allow Israel to use its Shavit rocket to usual launch the Ofeq satellites from the easterly direction to Alcantara Space Center in Brazil. This Figure 1. (a) The EROS-A1 high-resolution satellite during its ground testing. (b) A cut- away drawing of the new EROS-B higher-resolution satellite that is currently being take advantage of would provide an equatorial launch site to built by Israel Aircraft Industries [IAI]. (Source: IAI) the boost given by give the maximum assistance to the the Earth's rotation. launcher from the Earth's rotation. II.1 Israel This was done to avoid the spent launcher Furthermore it would allow an easterly rocket landing in Jordan or Saudi Arabia. launch over the Atlantic, so removing the Like most countries involved in the acquisi- So the satellite was placed in a retrograde limitations of the current westwards launch tion of high-resolution imagery from space, orbit (with i = 143.4˚)th at could only from Israel over the Mediterranean. the Israeli efforts in this field, are tied up cover the area between latitudes 36.6˚ N with the country's concern with intelligence and S. However this includes all of its Israel's Commercial gathering and national security, of which Arab neighbours plus much of Iran. High-Resolution Satellites mapping forms a vital part. Although the ImageSat International com- pany (formerly called West Indian Space) is Israeli Military High-Resolution Satellites Ofeq-4 & -5 registered in the Netherlands Antilles and Israel's reconnaissance satellites are the Following on from the success of Ofeq-3, a has its main office in Cyprus, the majority Ofeq (Horizon) series, all of which have series of follow-on Ofeq satellites were holding by IAI and ElOp is Israeli; the top been launched from the Palmachim launch authorized under a six-year plan. However management is Israeli; and its EROS satel- site in Israel using its own Shavit (Comet) an attempt to orbit Ofeq-4 failed at launch lite and the ElOp pushbroom scanner have launcher. First of all, two experimental in 1998 and the whole programme fell been built in Israel. Furthermore, quite satellites - Ofeq-1 and Ofeq-2 - with short badly behind. According to an investigation recently, the company's main image archive lives of a few weeks were launched in 1988 carried out in 2001 by the Israeli has been moved from Cyprus to Israel. and 1990 respectively. These were Comptroller-General, Judge Eliezer Goldberg, followed by an attempt to launch an opera- many technical problems occurred. Besides EROS-A tional Ofeq satellite in September 1994, which, there was poor supervision and liai- The original programme was to construct which failed. However, in April 1995, the son between the constructors, IAI, and the eight EROS satellites - models A1 and A2 to 22 March 2004 Sp a c e Sp a c e (a) (b) (c) Figure 2. (a) The control room and operations centre for the EROS satellites located in Israel. (Source: ImageSat Intl. NV), (b) An EROS-A1 high-resolution pan image showing bomb craters on the runway, anti-aircraft guns and destroyed aircraft on Herat Airfield in Afghanistan during the war against the Taliban in October 2001. (Source: Metria Satellus; Copyright: ImageSat Intl. NV), (c) A colourized version of an over-sampled EROS-A1 pan image with 1m ground pixel size showing part of Casablanca, Morocco, with the Great (Hassan II) Mosque jutting into the Atlantic Ocean. (Source: ImageSat Intl. NV) be launched in 1999 and 2000 respectively, pixels, instead of the 7,000 long linear IRS-1D (from 1997) - are still operational followed by the larger and more capable B1 array used on EROS-A. This specification is but with rather little remaining in the way in 2003, B2 and B3 in 2004, B4 and B5 in said to be similar to that of Ofeq-5. With of propellants and other consumables. 2005 and B6 in 2006. However there were regard to the launch of EROS-B1, the first Their pan imagery has a 6m ground pixel long delays during the construction of option is to again use a Russian rocket, size; their LISS III multi-spectral imagery EROS-A1. Besides the initial $250 million but other options are being considered. features a 23.5m ground pixel size and a funding raised by the Merrill Lynch finance 142km wide swath; and their WiFS (Wide house in the U.S.A., a further $90 million Summary - Israeli Field Scanner) imagery has a ground pixel had to be raised from U.S. and French High-Resolution Satellites size of 188m and a swath width of 810km. investors at the beginning of 2000 in order As with all high-resolution space imagery The IRS-1C and -1D pan imagery is just on to keep the project running. Eventually programmes, national security considera- the edge of being high-resolution in terms EROS-A1 was launched and came into suc- tions play a very large part in Israel's pro- of the definition adopted in this article. cessful operation in December 2000. By all grammes. Like the programmes in other The imagery has had a fairly wide sale accounts, it is very similar to the Ofeq-3 countries, development has been slow due internationally, especially with Space satellite. Its pan images have a 1.8m to technical problems, failed launches and Imaging acting both as a major ground sta- ground pixel size. However images with a financial over-runs - though the final tion operator and as the sales outlet for 0.9m ground pixel size can be obtained imagery, when eventually realized, has the imagery on the international market. through over-sampling. A big difference been well received. It is very noticeable compared with Ofeq-3 was that EROS-A1 that quite a number of the ground receiv- These two IRS-1C & -1D satellites we re fol- was placed in a near-polar Sun-syn- ing stations that have been licensed to l owed by the IRS-P3 (launched in 1996), chronous orbit using the Russian Start-1 take down EROS imagery are located in also equipped with a WiFS scanner and IRS- launcher from the Svobodny site in Eastern South and East Asia - in India, Singapore, P4 Oceansat (launched in 1999) equipped Siberia, so giving world-wide coverage. Taiwan, South Korea and Japan - again pri- with a low - resolution optical scanner and a marily for "national security" purposes. The m i c r ow a ve radiometer for ocean monitoring EROS-B close cooperation between Israel and India purposes. Next in the series we re to be IRS- Obviously, the originally planned schedule on certain space imaging projects is very P5 Cartosat - originally scheduled to be for the EROS-programme has fallen badly significant and will be discussed in the launched in 2000 - and the IRS-P6 behind. The EROS-A2 satellite was dropped next section. Re s o u rcesat. Howe v e r, before these deve l- and construction of the EROS-B1 satellite opments could be fully implemented, came has commenced, aided by a further $70 the large-scale incursion of insurgents into million of finance from the Bank Leumi in II.2 India the Indian-held part of Kashmir in 1999. Israel made in July 2001. The EROS-B1 Nearly 300 Indian soldiers we r e killed satellite is now scheduled for launch The Indian Space Research Organisation b e f o r e the insurgents we re forced back into towards the end of 2004.