EROS A


The Earth Remote Observation System A was part of the EROS family of Israeli commercial Earth observation satellites, designed and manufactured by Israel Aircraft Industries. This was the first satellite in the series. The satellite was owned and operated by ImageSat International.
The EROS A was launched on December 5, 2000 from Svobodny Launch Complex in eastern Siberia.

Spacecraft

The satellite was 1.2m in diameter, 2.3m in height. It weighed 250 kg at launch. The design was based on the military reconnaissance satellite Ofeq 3, which was previously built, also by IAI for Israeli government use.

Control Systems

The satellite was equipped with a 3-axis stabilized and a four reaction wheels actuator. The satellite is also equipped with horizon sensors, sun sensors, gyros and magnetometer for altitude determination.

Ground Communication Systems

The satellite is equipped with a 70Mbit/s imagery link, a 15 kbit/s maintenance downlink, and a 15kbit/s command uplink.

Operation

The satellite always crosses the equator at 9:45am local time. Future satellites were planned to extend the time dimension to vary the crossing time between mid-morning and mid after. This will allow it to compensate for poor visibility conditions arising from clouds at different altitudes.
While the satellite's primary purpose is agricultural engineers, planners and other professionals who need detailed pictures of different places in the world, it can also be used for various other applications. The satellite provides commercial images with an optical resolution of 1.8 meters using. It has optical resolution capabilities of up to 1.2 meters.
The satellite can be temporarily controlled by a customer when it passes over the areas of interest. This is used to allow the client privacy without the operator knowing what's being looked at. This capability, however, is not allowed over the State of Israel by the Israeli government.
The satellite increased its orbital altitude for the last time on 24 April 2012 and reentered on 7 July 2016.