Israel’s first civilian photography satellite, Eros-1, broadcast on Saturday its first picture from outer space to Earth since its Tuesday launch.
Israel’s first civilian photography satellite, Eros-1, broadcast on Saturday its first photograph from outer space to Earth since its Tuesday launch.
The picture was taken with a camera developed by Israeli company El-Op and was received at the receiving station in the plant of the MABAT Division of Israel Aircraft Industries (IAI), which manufactured the satellite, and in the receiving station in Sweden.
The foreign investors partnering the project ordered the picture shelved and would not allow its publication. IAI, however, is applying pressure to publish the picture this week.
MABAT manager Yitzhak Nissan today told “Globes” that the picture showed landmarks on a site in a country, whose name cannot be disclosed. “The picture is truly meaningless”, Nissan said. “We define the satellite and its activity as markedly successful, particularly in view of the recent failures of competing satellite programs. Before the launch, we predicted that a waiting period of several weeks would be required to verify that the satellite was functioning properly, but the wait ended sooner than expected. Eros-1 will be ready to commence commercial activity in about two weeks.”
Published by Israel's Business Arena on December 11, 2000