Israeli technology continues to extend its positive influence on the world, and is no longer confined to Planet Earth. Recently, a satellite built by Israel Aerospace Industries called DS-SAR was launched into space from an Indian space center for Singapore’s Defence Science and Technology Agency and the ST Electronics engineering group.
The satellite was mounted on an Indian delivery rocket, and the successful launch delivered the satellite into Earth’s orbit where initial tests showed that the satellite was functioning normally and began transmitting data back to the ground station. After an initial series of tests are completed, the satellite will be formally handed over to the Singaporean customers.
The satellite is equipped with various sensors designed to collect a wide range of data in multiple scenarios, day and night and under all weather conditions. More exact details of its mission are of course proprietary and secret but the company did say that the DS-SAR satellite was designed based on experience gained from previous Israeli satellite launches including the OptSat for Italy and the TecSAR for Azerbaijan, both of which were military reconnaissance satellites.
Of the seven satellites making up the launch payload of the Indian rocket, the Israeli DS-SAR was the largest, weighing 362 kilograms (800 pounds) and according to The Strait Times, a Singapore-based English-language newspaper, the satellite was to be used to provide satellite imagery to multiple Singaporean agencies, governmental and commercial.
Source: Times of Israel