India launches Israeli Spy Satellite

[PegasusOnline]

Re: India launches Israeli Spy Satellite

As far as the sensitive nature of this launch is concerned, read this.

IT was a launch that the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) wanted to be kept a secret. There was no prior announcement; nor were there the usual curtain-raiser trips for mediapersons. When several Telugu newspaper reporters from Sulurpet, a small town near Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh, and this Frontline correspondent got wind of the launch and reached the launch site on January 21, they were barred from entering the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC).

The news about the “core-alone” version of ISRO’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) successfully putting into orbit Israel’s Tecsar satellite on that day was not announced by ISRO as is the custom.

The press release did not mention ISRO at all. The implication was that ISRO was not in the picture. At a press conference addressed later that day by ISRO Chairman G. Madhavan Nair and other top ISRO officials in Chennai, no official of IAI or MBT Space, Israel, which led the design, development and fabrication of Tecsar, was present. They were, however, earlier present at SHAR during the launch.

Madhavan Nair said, “We won the contract [for launching Tecsar] against stiff competition from many other players. The orbit we achieved will be the envy of any person in the launch service. It recognises the launch capability of ISRO on par with other leading players in the world.”

During launches in January, April and September 2007, from Sriharikota, and also during the International Astronautical Congress in Hyderabad in September 2007, ISRO top brass had dodged questions on whether ISRO was planning to launch any Israeli satellite.

According to the ISRO Chairman, Israel did not want any publicity until the launch was successful.

Peace burqs.