Final preparations are underway for the launch of Israel's spy satellite Ofek 5 soon, the Israeli Ha'aretz daily quoted a Defense Ministry spokeswoman as saying.
The Ofek 5 will replace its predecessor, Ofek 3, which burned up in space after five full years of service, and will have a life span of eight years, added the report.
Due to the sensitivity of the systems installed in the satellite and its mission, the new spy satellite will be launched inside Israel by an Israeli launcher, the daily said.
Ofek 3 went out of service more than one and a half years ago, and since then, the Israeli Defense Ministry has been mostly using photographs taken by the commercial satellite Eros. In 1998, Israel tried to launch its Ofek 4 spy satellite but failed because of a fault with the launcher. (Albawaba.com)
© 2002 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
