Ofeq 1, 2

Ofeq, meaning 'Horizon', was a demonstration satellite developed by IAI (Israel Aircraft Industries) and MBT (??????) for ISA (Israel Space Agency). Israel became the eighth nation to launch an indigenous satellite when Ofeq 1 was placed into LEO. The full payload was not disclosed but included magnetometers and house-keeping monitoring. The only malfunction was in telemetry memory; computer switched to backup. Expected life was a few weeks but did not reenter until January 14 because of higher than expected orbit.

Spacecraft
An irregular octagonal prism of conventional aluminum. Mass budget (kg): structure 33, power system 58, computer 7, comms 12, thermal control 5, wiring 9, instrumentation & balance masses 32. Spin stabilized at 400 deg/sec, the 16 solar panels provided 246 W through a 7 Ah NiCd battery; typical consumption was 53 W. S-band telemetry returned at 2.5 kbit/s from a 128 kbyte memory. Attitude sensing provided by 3-axis rate gyro, magnetometer and Sun sensor.

Payload
Classified except for magnetometers and housekeeping monitoring.

Country of Origin	Israel
Customer/User	Israel Space Agency
Manufacturer(s)	ISA/MBT
Size	irregular octagonal prism 2.3 m high, 1.2m base diameter, 0.7 m top face
Orbit	LEO 248x1170 km, 142.86 deg, 98.79 min retrograde orbit
Design Life	weeks - months

Launch Facts

Name	Int'l Desig.	Date	Site	Vehicle	Orbit	Mass(kg)
Notes
Ofeq 1 (Horizon 1)	1988-087A	9/19/88	Yavne	Shavit	LEO	155
1st Israeli launch; possibly experimental surveillance mission
Ofeq 2	1990-027A	4/3/90	Yavne	Shavit	LEO	160
Communication experiments