ImageSat Releases First Images from Eros A1 Satellite


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	ImageSat Releases First Images from Eros A1 Satellite By Barbara Opall-Rome Spacenews.com Correspondent posted: 02:42 pm ET 18 January 2001

TEL AVIV — The international consortium managing the Earth Remote Observation Satellite (EROS) today released the initial images gathered by its satellite, EROS A1

TEL AVIV — The international consortium managing the Earth Remote Observation Satellite (EROS) today released the initial images gathered by its satellite, EROS A1.

According to the company, ImageSat International (ISI), the EROS A1 has completed the first phase of in-orbit testing and is expected to be available for full commercial operations in March.

"All systems and sub-systems have equaled or exceeded anticipated performance specifications," ISI spokeswoman Jo Frankel noted in a Jan. 18 release.

Images released by the company show Seoul, South Korea; Breste, France and an approximately 12-kilometer-wide swatch of Izmir, Turkey. Company officials maintain that the high-resolution imagery provided by Eros marks the first time commercial customers could obtain one-meter resolution pictures formerly reserved for military customers and state-owned institutions.

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Frankel quoted Jacob Weiss, ISI chief executive officer, as saying the company already has received "a substantial number of requests for orders, which is a validation of the market need for high-resolution imagery."

She noted that ISI intends to spend the remainder of January and the month of February in integration testing of its worldwide ground systems network, including interactive testing between space and ground segments.

Eros A1 was launched Dec. 5 from a Start 1 rocket based at the Russian Cosmodrome in Svobodny, Siberia. Built by Israel Aircraft Industries Ltd. of Lod, the Eros A1 houses camera equipment developed by El-Op Electro-Optics Industries, Ltd. of Rehovot, Israel.