Tel Aviv. A close technological and research collaboration between the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology and Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) has yielded an advanced electronic receiver that constitutes a unique development in the nano-satellite category.
The collaboration was part of Technion’s “ADELIS-SAMSON” project, in which three nano-satellites will be launched into space in December.
The three satellites, which will fly in an autonomous formation without human intervention, are tasked with receiving signals from Earth and detecting their precise location for search and rescue, remote sensing, and environmental monitoring missions.
The software and algorithms that control the flight were developed at Technion’s Distributed Space Systems Lab in the Asher Space Research Institute (ASRI).
The Israeli ministry of defense plans to order a large number of Nano and Micro satellites that will be launched into space to form “Swarms”. The combined capability of such a swarm will, according to experts, enhance Israel’s capability to get almost a real time image intelligence of preparations for the launch of a ballistic missile.
The plan is to use the micro and nano satellites to achieve a continuous coverage of areas “of special interest” by high rate of revisits.
These small and relatively cheap satellites will operate in parallel to the Israeli full size spy satellites of the Ofek series.
All the Israeli spy satellites have been manufactured by Israel Aerospace Industries. This capability has been achieved by massive investment in the company’s space division.
The ministry, according to the critics, chooses to overlook these massive investments and has asked for proposal from Rafael, another state-owned company that so far has manufactured only small space subsystems. The ministry declined any comment on the issue.
Rafael has some years ago unveiled a satellite concept that weighs less than 220 pounds, about a quarter of the current Ofek series satellites and still deliver 23 inch resolution images. The price of such a nano satellite is expected to be US$20 million.
But these low orbit spy satellites from the Ofek series visit “areas of interest” in big intervals. Their optical or radar payloads cannot keep a persistence watch over the “Areas of interest, and when it comes to the ballistic missiles threat, this is a major problem.
Israeli sources say that some 30 minutes are needed from the command to prepare a ballistic missile for launch until it is ready for launch, and this if the protection silos are well equipped. Such a short time, when the enemy is aware of the “visiting” time of the spy satellites over his territory, can be the perfect trick to avoid the detection of the preparations and the launch itself, when the burn of the missiles engines, make it a very clear target for space based infra-red sensors.
In the past, when the idea was first brought up, one plan was to launch the satellites using a launcher that will be carried to a very high altitude by a combat aircraft. But now it seems that the plan is to use ground launchers, that each will carry many of these small satellites into their orbit in space.
“The optical capabilities of a nano satellite are limited because of the size of the optical payload. But when you use a constellation of such satellites, the combined capability can be very effective in missions like locating missile launchers,” an industry source said.
-The writer is an Israel-based freelance journalist
-The writer is an Israel-based freelance journalist. The views expressed are of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the views of Raksha Anirveda
