EROS

EROS (Earth Resources Observation Satellite) is a series of Israeli commercial Earth observation satellites, designed and manufactured by Israel Aircraft Industries (IAI), with optical payload supplied by El-Op. The satellites are owned and operated by ImageSat International, another Israeli company, with some 35 full-time employees (of IntelSat's total of 50).

 HISTORY

EROS A was launched, on December 5, 2000 and EROS B on April 25, 2006. EROS A was launched on the Russian Start-1 launcher on December 5, 2000, from the Svobodny Launch Complex in eastern Siberia], to a Low Earth orbit (LEO) altitude of 480 km. The satellite provides commercial images with an optical resolution of 1.8 meters. The satellite orbits earth in a Heliosynchronous orbit, so that its imaged target is always in daylight. It always crosses the equator at 9:45am local time. Its dimensions: height: 2.3m, diameter: 1.2m, head: 0.7m. It weighed 250kg at launch. It was built based on the military reconnaissance satellite Ofeq 3, which was previously built, also by IAI and El-Op, for Israeli government use.