ISRO successfully places Israeli ‘spy’ satellite in orbit

Describing the launch as ‘spectacular,’ ISRO Chairman G Madhavan Nair said it was a ‘red letter day’ for Antrix Corporation, the marketing and commercial arm of the organisation. In April 2007, Antrix had completed its first successful mission for a foreign customer, placing AGILE, an Italian astronomical satellite, in space.

Nair added that with the Israelis requesting a 41 degree inclination, it had been a difficult mission “We had to almost go along the equatorial path, and then do a difficult manoeuvre to achieve this,” he said.

On reports that TECSAR was a ‘spy’ satellite, Nair pleaded ignorance about the content of the payload.

But he added that there was no category as ‘spy satellites’ as imaging satellites had a multitude of purposes. India too, he said, was developing a radar imaging satellite at the Space Applications Centre, Ahmedabad, likely to be launched next year.

TESCAR uses Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) technology for penetrating clouds and the night sky to capture images from outer space, which has triggered speculation that it could be a spy satellite.

This was further fuelled by some media reports that the satellite’s launch had been delayed by a few months following objections from some countries that did not want India to launch an Israeli payload. Nair, however, clarified that the delay was due to some “technical reasons” and had to be further delayed to pass over the monsoon period.

Nair said mediapersons were not permitted to witness the launch on Monday as the Israeli Aerospace Industries, which owns TECSAR, did not want any publicity until the launch was complete.

Israel had chosen India’s PSLV above other competitors like Russia, because of its flexible design, the ISRO chairman said. “The PSLV is just the right size for such missions,” said Nair, explaining that the PSLV was a ‘core-alone’ stage, with no strap-on motors, which were a feature of its normal configuration.

Antrix Corporation head, K R Sridharamurthy, said that Antrix quoted higher than international rates because of the PSLV’s design and suitability. Declining to give the exact revenue of the launch, Sridharamurthy said the charge for launching TESCAR was “much higher” than the normal international rates which ranged between $15,000 and $20,000 per kg of payload.