Israel might be losing momentum in its "conquest of space" region. Vigilance is required. Photo: Bloomberg JPost
Reserve General Haim Eshed is worried. This scientist of 69 years who runs for thirty years the space program within the Department of Defense is concerned that lack of funding necessary, Israel will lose its qualitative edge over other countries in the Middle East, like Iran, are seeking to develop space capabilities.
For now, Israel is leading the pack in this area, but Iran, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and other nations in the region are starting to invest unprecedented resources to develop stations launch on their own soil.
"Iran has understood it takes the brainpower to go into space, so it distributes scholarships to its young people to go and study, "Eshed told The Jerusalem Post in an exclusive interview." He knows that advantage that Israel has is its human capital. "
can estimate qu'Eshed part of that capital. Young Colonel in military intelligence, he stressed that Israel must develop capabilities in satellite Following the signing of a peace treaty with Egypt. At the time, Eshed was already a hero in the Israeli army. In 1967, he received Medal of Merit from Chief of Staff for developing a system that was - and remains, 42 years later - top secret.
"I understood that, with peace on our door, we could not fly over the Sinai to gather information and that the only way to know what was happening in the region would monitor it from above , via satellite, "he recalls. So
Head of Research and Development of intelligence, therefore Eshed writes a proposal, which is found in the hands of Defense Minister Ezer Weizman, before landing on the desk of Menachem Begin. It approves funding project in 1980.
"I am convinced that if we have so quickly agreed to withdraw from the Sinai, because we knew we had the ability to manufacture a satellite," he says.
The first Israeli satellite, the Ofek 1, was launched September 19, 1988. With it, Israel entered the exclusive club of nations capable of launching satellites from their soil. The club which now includes the U.S., Russia, France, Japan, China, India and the United Kingdom, has come to see a new member: Iran.
"At first we were very unpopular," says Eshed. "Israel was a tiny country that had just been created and sought to build capacity which had only the two superpowers: the United States and the USSR. "
But that has not stopped Eshed, and during the twenty years after his first step into space, Israel launched fifteen satellites. The last departed from India in June 2008.
Unlike spy satellite Ofek series and Eros, TecSar is one of the few in the world to use radar technology instead of cameras. This enables him to create high-resolution images of terrestrial objects, whatever the weather, even through the roofs of houses, except for concrete structures.
Multipurpose
satellites are used for all sorts of missions: to follow the progress of the Iranian nuclear program, for example, or transmit communications and images to troops operating behind enemy lines, as in Operation Lead Cast in the Gaza Strip. If the information provided by foreign media are correct and that the Israeli army has bombed a convoy of ammunition to Sudan in January, is probably also thanks to satellites, not to mention the bombing in September 2007, facilities Syrian nuclear few weeks prior to their function.
accordance with the Protocol, Eshed refused to specify the exact use of satellites, but expressed a widely extended use in recent years, allowing the army to observe any point on the planet. "If the theater is close to Israel, the planes are sufficient to achieve, but with terrorism, it extends more and more," he says. "Just look at the reports that come from Sudan."
As unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), which Israel is a world leader, the country is also considered as one of the most advanced in terms of mini-satellites. Unlike satellites "mammoth" American, which can weigh up to 25 tonnes, the Israeli satellite - developed and manufactured by the Aerospace Industry (IAI) - weigh between 300 and 400 kg. Currently, the IAI is also working on developing nano-satellites, which weigh only a few tens of pounds and will be capable of providing communications services for military operations.
"Smaller is better"
"The world begins to understand that smaller is better", says Eshed. "A big satellite costs a lot of money to develop, launch and maintain. "And to share his new project: the satellites 'dual use', which may belong in part to private investors - Israeli and foreign - and provide services, civilian or military. The MoD already receives images ImageSat International, a global provider of commercial high-resolution images of Earth taken by satellite.
If we now private investors is that the budgets are tight: Eshed has only about 100 million dollars, while the United States, for comparison, investing in each year 50 billion in their space programs. By YAAKOV KATZ
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