Destruction of satellite will damage Israel

THE ISRAELI government is rethinking its space policy following the destruction of the Amos 6 communications satellite in an explosion in the US last week.

The accident has placed question marks over the sale of Israel’s main private satellite communications company to the Chinese.

While Israel has been constructing its own satellites for three decades, its approach to Gone: Amos 6 communications has been very different to the way it has managed the development of surveillance infrastructure. Most of Israel’s “spy satellites” — the “Ofek” series — are operated directly by the Defence Ministry and launched from the Israeli Air Force’s missile test facility at Palmachim Airbase.

The communications satellites, however, are privately owned and serve a wide range of government and commercial customers. Their large size and high-altitude orbits mean that they can- not be launched by the Israeli “Shavit” launchers, and are put into space elsewhere. Amos 6 was destroyed when a Falcon 9 rocket — operated by the US company SpaceX — exploded during a routine engine test at Cape Canaveral on Thursday. The satellite was constructed by Israel Aerospace Industries and was to be operated by Spacecom, a privately owned Israeli communications company. Amos 6 was to join three other Amos satellites in orbit, and its destruction gives Israel a major problem. Last year, after less than four years in space, Amos 5 stopped receiving signals, and Israel’s other three satellites are coming to the end of their life-spans. As a result, there will be a gap in the supply of crucial communication services to both the Israeli government and commercial companies, which will force them to rely on more expensive foreign providers. It will take at least three years to construct and launch a replacement satel- lite. The State Comptroller is already probing alleged flaws in the planning of Israel’s satellite programme.

The loss of Amos 6 is also jeopardising the planned sale of Spacecom to Chinese communications giant Xinwei, which was expecting its planned purchase to be operating a brand-new satellite. The accident also strengthens the case made by those in the Israeli establishment who oppose the sale of a crucial component of Israel’s space industry to a foreign corporation.

Atanemergencymeetingof space-sector stakeholders, Science and Space Minister Ofir Akunis said: “Our main objective now is formulating a space policy to safeguard the Israeli space industry’s great technological advantages.”

Some in the room were left wondering why such a policy had not been devised years ago.