EROS A

EROS or Earth Resources Observation Satellite is a family of Israeli commercial Earth observation satellites developed by Israel Aircraft Industries (IAI) with optics provided by El-Op (now Elbit Systems). Satellites are the property of ImageSat International who is the operator. EROS A was put into orbit in a sun-synchronous orbit of 480 km. It goes to the equator at 10am. Its optical resolution is 1.9 meters. The satellite, which is stabilized 3 axes, has a total mass of 250 kg including 178 kg for the platform, 42 kg for optics and 30 kg of hydrazine used by its propulsion. It derives from Israeli military reconnaissance satellite Ofeq 3. Fixed solar panels provide 450 Watts that power a 14 Ah NiCd battery. The pointing accuracy is 0.1 ° lower. Data transfers are in the X band with a downlink rate of 70 megabits / sec. The optical part includes a Cassegrain telescope 30 cm in diameter with a focal length of 3.45 meters. The CCD type sensor includes two lines of 7490 pixels. It has a design life of 4 years and a projected life of 10 years. In early 2013 it is still operational.