Tel Aviv: Israel has successfully launched the “Ofek-13” spy satellite into space at dawn on Wednesday.
The Ofek-13 satellite, manufacutured by state-owned Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI). It is the latest in a series of domestically produced satellites that were first put into orbit in 1988.
The Shavit launch vehicle launched the satellite into space from Palmachim Airbase spaceport at 2:10 am on Wednesday.
Immediately after launch, the satellite successfully entered orbit, started transmitting data and completed an initial series of tests according to the original launch plans.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu congratulated his country this evening, Wednesday, on the launch of the Ofek 13 satellite.
Netanyahu took to Twitter and wrote, “I congratulate the successful launch of the Israeli satellite Ofek 13 into space.”
“We have been working on this for a long time. We are upgrading the Israeli security system,” he added.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, who was present in the control room at the launch of the satellite, said this was an “important achievement like no other”.
Israel launched its first satellite, Ofek-1, in 1988. It was seven years later in 1995 that Israel began launching a reconnaissance satellite into space capable of taking pictures of the Earth.
Ofek-16 was launched in July 2020 and won Israel’s first security award in 2022.
