Space

IAI Unveils the EROS B1 High-Resolution Satellite

Jun 14, 2003

Israel Aircraft Industries Ltd. is publicly displaying the EROS B1 commercial, high-resolution satellite for the first time at the Paris Air Show at Le Bourget. The satellite is currently under production at IAI's Space Division facilities.

In 2001, Israel Aircraft Industries' Space Division was awarded a contract to develop and produce the EROS B1 satellite from ImageSat International N.V. This is the second in the series of EROS (Earth Resources Observation Satellite) satellites developed and manufactured for ImageSat by IAI/ Space Division. The contract also covers adaptation of the existing ground control and tracking stations.

The EROS A satellite, the first in the series, was successfully placed in orbit in December 2000 on a Russian Start-1 launcher and continues to be operated by ImageSat, which provides services to its customers worldwide.

When EROS B1 will become operational concurrently with EROS A, ImageSat will offer its customers the services from the industry's first high-resolution satellite constellation. Enhanced revisit time will provide greater site-monitoring capabilities, both for national security and civilian applications.

EROS B1 will be one of the world's most advanced, smallest and most agile, commercial high-resolution reconnaissance satellites. It will be able to collect panchromatic and multispectral images, as well as significantly more data at higher resolutions than EROS A. Ground scanning capabilities will be higher andEROS B-1 Illustrationdata transmission will be much faster.

Spacecraft Main Parameters

- Altitude 400-680 km
- Swath at least 13 km at 600
- Fuel Lifetime at least 10 years at 600 km
- Camera Panchromatic & Multispectral
- Sensor type CCD-TDI up to 32 levels
- On-board recorder Two fully-redundant recorders at 120 Gbit each
- Data transmission rate 450 Mbit/sec
- Weight 360 kg
- Length 2.17 m
- Power 800 w

Established in 1953, Israel Aircraft Industries, Ltd. (IAI) is Israel's largest high-tech concern and a globally recognized leader for the defense and commercial markets. IAI provides unique and cost-effective technological solutions for a broad spectrum of needs in space, air, land, sea and homeland defense. In fulfilling overseas contracts, the company works with domestic partners through technology transfer and other agreements.

IAI is an established leader in a vast number of fields including: unmanned air and ground vehicles, radars, secure communications, AEW, EW, ELINT/ESM, SIGINT and COMINT/COMJAM, air-to-air refueling, maintenance, upgrading and conversion of military aircraft and helicopters, Anti-Tactical Ballistic Missiles (ATBM), optronic payloads, navigation, smart weapons, missiles, commercial satellites and launchers, mine detection, clearing and breaching systems and many other core technologies, products and services.

IAI holds the prestigious ISO 9001 certification and its products and technologies are fully backed by comprehensive Integrated Logistic Support (ILS), training, and complete after-sales service.

For more information, contact:

Doron Suslik
Deputy Corporate Vice President for Communications
Tel: 972 (3) 935-8509
Fax: 972 (3) 935-8512
Email: hpaz@iai.co.il