India To Launch Dedicated Military Satellite CARTOSAT 2A To Monitor Missile Launches

[Contrarian]

India To Launch Dedicated Military Satellite CARTOSAT 2A To Monitor Missile Launches


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Dated 10/6/2007
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India will launch its first dedicated military satellite in August to give the country the capability to monitor missile launches in its neighborhood.

The dedicated military reconnaissance satellite, CARTOSAT 2A, will be launched on a Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle rocket by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) in the first week of August, an official said here.

CARTOSAT 2A will boast of spatial resolution and will be loaded with cameras that can supply advanced imagery. It will cater to military and intelligence specifications than any existing Indian satelite. The launch of the satellite will fulfil a long- standing demand from the armed forces for a dedicated reconnaissance spacecraft.

Launch of the first military satellite will be rapidly followed by the launch of two more advanced imaging satellites by next year to give India the capability of keeping an eye round-the-clock on the region surrounding the country.

Technical Specifications
CARTOSAT-2 will be an advanced remote sensing satellite with a single panchromatic camera capable of providing scene specific spot imageries for cartographic applications.

The satellite will have high agility with capability to steer along and across the track up to +45 degrees. It will be placed in a sun-synchronous polar orbit at an altitude of 630 km. It will have a revisit period of 4 days, which can be improved to one day with suitable orbit manoeuvres.

The panchromatic camera is designed to provide better than 1 m spatial resolution imageries with a swath of 10 km.
http://www.india-defence.com/reports-3290

 

[joey]

now this is soem good news fits with our ABM programme, A swath of 10 kms will give a res in around 10 centimetres gentlemen, also we might see it to be fitted with Ir sensors.

 

[Contrarian]

I believe this is the SECOND mil sat. I remember reading reports a long time back, about India finally launching its first spy sat. So this counts as second.

 

[Bull]

Well i guess i also have read it. But this might be having some new features.

 

[joey]

TES was re-conissance sat.

 

[Bull]

TES was re-conissance sat.

What was that suppose to do?

 

[joey]

Take images etc, this will track missile launches possibly, cannot say anything for now.

It is interesting to know we are using polar orbit for this unlike GTO, which seems quite weird though there can be lots of explanations.

 

[Always Neutral]

If it has Israeli hardware it will be very advanced and capable of keeping an eye on its neighbours. indian space programme seems quite capable inspite of its failure. I am aware that certain universities in UK want to send up micro satellites using Indian Launchers.

Regards

 

[joey]

Always neutral as far as we are concerned there is no Israeli hardware in it, We are capable enough to produce our own reconissance satellites, we have bagged contact to produce two communication satellite for EU as well.

Israels one of spy satellite called Polaris will be launched in our launcher this august, and it has been said it is a jointly funded programme the other nation is unnamed, can very well be India.

 

[Neo]

Joey,

Though I'm not as informed as you are in this field I have been following Indian interest in Israeli high resolution technology, specially the Ofeq-5 , which is assumed to be capable of capturing details much less than a half-meter across.
India is aleady a partner in Eros-A project, therefor I do believe Israel is helping you to build this spy satellite.

India Seeks Israeli Ofeq 5 Spy Satellite Imagery

By BARBARA OPALL-ROME And VIVEK RAGHUVANSHI
Space News Correspondents
posted: 05:56 pm ET, 03 October 2003

TEL AVIV — India is seeking Israeli approval for an unprecedented leasing deal that would allow the Indian government to pay a set fee for high-resolution imagery from Israel’s Ofeq 5 satellite, according to officials from both countries.

If endorsed by Israel’s Ministry of Defense (MoD), the deal would reverse a 20-year-old Israeli policy against sharing imagery collected by its spy satellites. Although Tel Aviv has co-developed imaging satellites and shared technologies developed for the Ofeq series of military satellites, the MoD has heretofore balked at requests for direct or even indirect downlinks of data from orbiting military spacecraft.

The New Delhi proposal, raised by Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Defence Minister George Fernandes during Israeli Premier Ariel Sharon’s Sept. 9-10 visit to India, is part of several Indian initiatives aimed at expanding strategic defense cooperation with Israel.

An Indian Ministry of Defence official said the proposal is driven primarily by India’s need to bolster intelligence-gathering capabilities in the Kashmir valley — the heart of India’s 56-year-old dispute with Pakistan. However, the official acknowledged that very-high-resolution satellite imagery provided by Israel would provide the Indian government with critical, real-time targeting information that could increase the accuracy of India’s home-built arsenal of ballistic missiles.

"We require a satellite which will give a resolution of up to half a meter for effective intelligence gathering in Jammu and Kashmir," an Indian official here said, referring to the disputed area over which New Delhi and neighboring Pakistan have fought three wars.

Additionally, the official said India is looking for accurate mapping and three-dimensional modeling capabilities of the high mountainous terrain of the Kashmir valley, information that could easily be provided by the Ofeq-5.

Although performance specifications and operational details of Israel’s low Earth-orbiting Ofeq-5 remain classified, the satellite is assumed to be capable of capturing details much less than a half-meter across. Ofeq-5, built by Israel Aircraft Industries (IAI) Ltd.’s MBT Division in Yehud, Israel, was launched in the spring of 2002 aboard an Israeli-built Shavit launcher.

Israel Non-Committal

Israeli government and industry officials visiting here as part of Sharon’s official delegation to India confirmed India’s interest in Ofeq-5 imagery. Nevertheless, they insisted that Israel’s MoD has remained noncommittal to the Indian-proposed lease package, and instead are urging the Indian government to make use of imagery to be offered by the Israeli-built Eros B satellite, a high-resolution commercial satellite planned for launch by the end of 2004.

India already is a so-called Satellite Operating Partner in the Eros A, a remote sensing satellite launched in December 2000 by ImageSat International, an Israeli-led firm that offers high-resolution imagery on the international market. Eros A, which also is built by IAI, contains technologies developed for Israel’s Ofeq-series of military satellites, and the spacecraft is capable of capturing details measuring less than one meter in diameter when employed in certain conditions.

The company’s follow-on Eros B satellite is expected to offer multi-spectral images of greatly improved resolution under a similar Satellite Operating Partner (SOP) format that essentially grants customers ownership of the satellite over a designated footprint. In India’s case, the government’s security establishment would be able to order the satellite to capture images of interest anywhere within an estimated 1,240-mile radius, with no control, involvement or even knowledge of ImageSat management.

Karen Gold-Anisfeld, an ImageSat executive responsible for public relations, declined to confirm or deny the firm’s business relationship with India.

"As a matter of corporate policy, we do not disclose any details concerning our Satellite Operating Partners," Anisfeld said Sept. 12.

Nevertheless, in an interview earlier this year, Menashe Broder, ImageSat’s chief executive officer, said the firm’s SOP program provides exclusive imaging rights within the footprint, as well as uplink and downlink to and from the satellite camera.

"Our SOP program provides exclusivity, autonomy and independence for our customers, who, in effect, become satellite owners and operators over their footprint," Broder said at the time.

As for India’s proposed leasing package for MoD’s Ofeq-5 satellite, Rachel Naidek-Ashkenazi, Israel MoD spokeswoman, declined to provide additional details. "The Ministry of Defense will not discuss matters of security cooperation under discussion with particular nations," Naidek-Ashkenazi said in a Sept. 17 statement.

India Continues Satellite Work

While India’s proposal to Israel remains on the table, an Indian MoD official said the government is continuing with its own indigenous program to develop and deploy remote sensing satellites.

The Indian Space Research Organisation is now developing what it calls Resourcesat and Cartosat, to be launched by the indigenously developed Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle.

The Cartosat-1 satellite is designed for military mapping as well as commercial services, and is planned for launch in 2004. The satellite is designed to carry two panchromatic cameras capable of capturing images measuring 2.5 meters across, while a planned follow-on satellite, Cartosat-2, is expected to be capable of providing images of 1-meter resolution.

India also is building a radar remote sensing satellite called Risat, capable of capturing images through dust and darkness. It is scheduled for launch in 2006. Additionally, the state agency launched in June 2001 its indigenous Test Evaluation Satellite, capable of delivering images measuring about 1 meter across.

Despite these indigenous advances, however, Indian military officials said the three branches of the armed services lack the infrastructure and training needed to render images from the Test Evaluation Satellite military meaningful for purposes of targeting and operational mapping.

http://dev.space.com/spacenews/archive03/spyarch_100303.html

 

[joey]

Neo, I dont quite agree with the article about the deal, because there has been no such official confirmation.

Let me explain a bit, We definitely are behind Israel in camera technology, heck Shenzous camera was Japanese, and that is purely because we do not produce ITT's which only 4 firms in this whole world produces.

Israeli satellites carries less fuel as they dont require frequent orbital jump because they need scene specific imagery, however in our case it is different.

Plus if you look this will have some un-named sensors, you cannot detect missiles using cameras! that we already have, you need IR sensors to do that dirty work.

We already have a spy re-connianse satellite that can do dirty work from 2001, Our few transponders in some sat are already booked for mil comm, thus i dont see where Israel can help us to build satellites other than supplying us with COTS products, now everyone does that.

There is nothing like 'help' India need to make a spy sat, help as in 'design'. various components can very well come from non-indian firms, its not uncommon, you cannot produce every bits and pieces inhouse.

 

[Srirangan]

Joey,

Though I'm not as informed as you are in this field I have been following Indian interest in Israeli high resolution technology, specially the Ofeq-5 , which is assumed to be capable of capturing details much less than a half-meter across.
India is aleady a partner in Eros-A project, therefor I do believe Israel is helping you to build this spy satellite.

Check the date of the article you posted, and check today's date.