When Israel Aerospace Industries put its newest and most advanced ever Dror 1 communications satellite into space on Sunday, it was proud that many more of the satellite’s parts – and design – were made in Israel than had been the case with some previous satellites.
Nevertheless, the launch took place at Cape Canaveral in Florida in the United States and was handled by Space X, a private sector company owned by Elon Musk.
Israel’s last public launch was of the Ofek 13 surveillance satellite, in 2023, from the Palmachim Air Force Base using IAI’s Israeli-made Shavit 2 launcher.
Earlier in July, the Defense Ministry revealed that Israeli satellites took tens of millions of photos of Iran leading up to and during the recent war.
With Iran being a country with an area of around 1.6 million sq. km., and much of the Israeli operation focused in the Tehran area or in Western Iran, parts of Iran were photographed dozens of times at least and potentially much more often.
It also means that Israeli satellites were surveilling hundreds of different targets per day, said the ministry.
The Shavit I and Shavit II combined have been servicing Israeli satellites for around 30 years.
And there is still NASA’s Space Launch System and other NASA space launchers which Israel and IAI could theoretically have considered.
So why go to Space X and Musk to launch the Dror 1?
As with most solutions, when it comes to space travel, the answers often have to do with practical ways in which to address challenges and money.
Space X has revolutionized commercial satellite launches since it pulled off its first launch in 2008. It now dominates the market.
Its reusable rocket launcher technology has saved immeasurable costs associated with sending anything into space in the past since, before Space X’s technology, every rocket would be a one-time use and then a lost cost.
NASA still does its own launches, especially of spacecraft and for future missions to further away places like the moon. But even NASA frequently uses Space X to launch satellites.
The next key factors are size and mission type.
The many Ofek surveillance satellites which IAI and Israel have launched using the Shavit Israeli-made launchers – and from Palmachim – are smaller, weigh less, and have a lower atmosphere mission as compared to Dror 1 and communications satellites in general.
Put differently, Dror 1 weighs too much and needs to go too far away from Earth into its higher orbit to be launchable from Shavit and from Palmachim.
For such heavier satellites, which reach 36,000 km. above Earth, as opposed to Ofek which reaches around 500 km. above Earth – launching from Israel is not an option, and Space X is the logical choice.
This is not the first time that an Israeli satellite has been launched by Space X. According to IAI, it was the second time, and it is the first successful launch for Israel and Space X.
In 2016, the IAI Israeli-made Amos 6 communications satellite exploded during a ground static fire test, leading to the loss of nearly $250 million and setting back the small and vulnerable Israeli satellite industry.
However, around five years ago, the government began to add its own funding to put IAI back into launching several new satellites, around one every five years or so, for the next two decades.
The idea was to preserve as much Israeli independence as possible in the area of space technology and to confront the new security front of space, even if Space X and the US are providing a partial helping hand.
Dror 1 was the first of this new planned line of Israeli communications satellites and is expected to operate for around 15 years.
Communications satellites can be used for a wide variety of commercial and security needs.
At press time, the Defense Ministry had not mentioned additional times it may have or may not have used Space X services to launch other satellites.