Israel conducts surprise launch with Ofek 16 satellite

by William Graham

The Israeli government and Israel Aerospace Industries conducted a previously-unannounced launch of a reconnaissance satellite Monday, using a Shavit-2 rocket to deploy the Ofek 16 satellite into low Earth orbit.

Ofek 16 is a small electro-optical imaging satellite, which will capture high-resolution images of the Earth for Israel’s Ministry of Defence. The name Ofek, from the Hebrew word אופק‎, meaning Horizon, has been applied to all of Israel’s military satellites regardless of their mission, including two early demonstration missions and subsequent optical and radar reconnaissance spacecraft.

With the launch of Ofek 1 in September 1988, Israel became the eighth country to develop its own orbital launch capability. It uses this capability exclusively for military payloads, relying on foreign rockets to carry its civilian and commercial satellites into orbit.

The Ofek 16 mission is the eleventh known orbital launch to have been attempted by Israel, and the country’s ninth to have reached orbit. It is Israel’s first launch in almost four years – the country’s last launch coming in September 2016 with the Ofek 11 satellite aboard.

Monday’s launch took place at 04:00 local time (01:00 UTC) from the Palmachim airbase on Israel’s coast, which has been the site of all of Israel’s orbital launches. Israel’s only coastline faces west onto the Mediterranean, so to avoid overflying the country’s neighbors – with whom Israel has historically had tense relations – rockets fly westward and target an unusual retrograde orbit.

With inclinations of around 142 degrees, Ofek satellites orbit in the opposite direction to most other satellites and do not pass over the high latitude regions of the Earth as spacecraft in the polar or sun-synchronous orbits more typically used by reconnaissance missions.

The launch was relatively low-key, as is normal for Israel’s orbital launches, with no notice made public ahead of time. The first announcement came from the Ministry of Defence via Twitter, about an hour and a half after liftoff, confirming that Ofek 16 had been deployed successfully into orbit.

In contrast to recent launches from nearby Iran, which were widely condemned, Israel’s launch has drawn little attention from the international community.

Although understandably many details of the spacecraft and its planned operations have been kept secret, the Israeli government has been open and upfront about the military nature of Ofek 16’s mission – with the launch announcement confirming its role as a reconnaissance satellite and a follow-up tweet identifying it as an “electro-optical reconnaissance satellite with advanced capabilities”. Images and videos have since been released showing the spacecraft and its carrier rocket being prepared for launch.

The Ofek satellites are manufactured by Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), with the current-generation spacecraft based on the IMPS-2 platform. The satellites are three-axis stabilized, with two deployable solar arrays generating power. OPTSAT-3000 had a mass of 368 kilograms (811 pounds), so it is likely that Ofek 16 weighs in around this figure – although its mass may be constrained by the limitations of the Shavit-2 carrier rocket.

Ofek 16 appears visually similar to the Ofek 11 satellite that was launched in 2016, and the two satellites are likely equipped with identical or closely-related systems.

Although Ofek 11 was deployed successfully, the satellite experienced problems during the early stages of on-orbit testing and officials confirmed that work was underway to “stabilize” the satellite following unspecified malfunctions. The problems were reportedly resolved within a few weeks of launch, although it remains unclear to what extent – if any – the satellite’s operations or capabilities might have been compromised.

Italy’s OPTSAT-3000 reconnaissance satellite, which was built by Israel and launched in August 2017, is believed to be of the same design as Ofek 11 and 16. While it is unclear whether OPTSAT-3000 has the same capabilities as its Ofek counterparts, more details about it are known than the Israeli satellites. OPTSAT has a maximum imaging resolution of about one meter (3.3 feet) and was designed to operate for at least seven years. Unlike the Ofek satellites, OPTSAT was launched by a Vega rocket from the Centre Spatial Guyanais, allowing it to be placed into a sun-synchronous orbit.

As Israel is not known to have attempted any satellite launches between the Ofek 11 and 16 missions, it is not immediately clear whether the Ofek 12, 13, 14 and 15 designations have been skipped, or applied to other spacecraft – possibly satellites that have not yet been launched.

The rocket pre-launch

The Shavit-2 rocket that deployed Ofek 16 was a three-stage all-solid-fuelled rocket, consisting of two ATSM-13 motors burning sequentially, with an AUS-51 motor comprising the third stage. The Shavit family of rockets are derived from the Jericho II missile, which is itself an improved version of the original Jericho, which Israel developed in the 1970s in partnership with Dassault Aviation of France.

The original version of Shavit, which was used for Israel’s first two satellite launches, used less powerful ATSM-9 motors as its first and second stages. This configuration was used in the successful deployment of two technology demonstration satellites – Ofek 1 and 2 – in September 1988 and April 1990. The Shavit-1 configuration, used for operational launches, replaced the first stage with an ATSM-13. It flew four times between 1995 and 2004. Two of these launches failed – resulting in the loss of the Ofek 4 satellite in January 1998 and of Ofek 6 in September 2004.

From June 2007 onwards, the Shavit-2, with ATSM-13 motors for both its first and second stages, has been used – and Monday’s launch was the fifth flight of this configuration. Like the Ofek 16 payload, the rocket was built by IAI.

Israel’s orbital launches are infrequent – with 1,392 days separating Monday’s launch from Israel’s last deployment of a satellite. Typically, about three years pass between missions – although this can vary – so it is unclear when the next Shavit launch will take place. When it does, as with Monday’s launch, it is unlikely that any advance notice will be given.

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