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Program: Offeq. Objective: Technology. Israeli indigenous satellite series. Launching organization: Israel Aircraft Industries, Ltd (IAI) and Israeli Space Agency (ISA). Function of first Offeqs: 1) Experimentation in generation of solar power; 2) Experimentation in transmission reception from space; 3) Verification of system's ability to withstand vacuum and weightless conditions; 4) Data collection on space environment conditions and Earth's magnetic field. Later models provided military optical and electronic reconnaissance services.
Major Events:

  • 1988 September 19 - Ofeq-1.  Spacecraft: Ofeq 1-2. Mass: 155 kg (341 lb). Launch Site: Palmachim. Launch Vehicle: Shavit.

    First Israeli launch; possibly experimental surveillance mission. Experimental satellite 'Offeq-1'. Launch time 0934 GMT. Location: site on the coast south of Tel-Aviv. Launching organization: Israel Aircraft Industries, Ltd (IAI) and Israeli Space Agency (ISA). Function: 1) Experimentation in generation of solar power; 2) Experimentation in transmission reception from space; 3) Verification of system's ability to withstand vacuum and weightless conditions; 4) Data collection on space environment conditions and Earth's magnetic field.

  • 1990 April 3 - Ofeq-2.  Spacecraft: Ofeq 1-2. Mass: 160 kg (350 lb). Launch Site: Palmachim. Launch Vehicle: Shavit.

    Communication experiments.

  • 1995 April 5 - Ofeq-3.  Spacecraft: Ofeq 3. Mass: 189 kg (416 lb). Launch Site: Palmachim. Launch Vehicle: Shavit.

  • 1998 January 22 - Ofeq-4.  Spacecraft: Ofeq 3. Launch Site: Palmachim. Launch Vehicle: Shavit.

    Fell in Mediterranean Sea.

  • 2002 May 28 - Ofeq-5.  Spacecraft: Ofeq 5. Mass: 300 kg (660 lb). Launch Site: Palmachim. Launch Vehicle: Shavit.

    Military Observation satellite. Return to flight of the Shavit booster following a lauanch failure. Launch delayed from third quarter 2001. The three-stage Shavit rocket took off from Palmachim Air Force Base on the Israeli coast and flew westward to put the satellite in a retrograde orbit. The AUS-51 third stage solid motor entered a 262 x 774 km x 143.5 deg orbit and separated from the Ofeq satellite. Both coasted up to apogee at around 1620 UTC when Ofeq made a burn to increase its velocity by 33 m/s, raising the orbit to 369 x 771 km x 143.5 deg.

  • 2004 September 6 - Ofeq-6.  Spacecraft: Ofeq 5. Mass: 300 kg (660 lb). Launch Site: Palmachim. Launch Vehicle: Shavit.

    Military observation satellite failed to reach orbit. Finanical loss estimated by Israeli press as $ 100 million.

  • 2007 June 10 - Ofeq-7.  Spacecraft: Ofeq 5. Mass: 300 kg (660 lb). Launch Site: Palmachim. Launch Vehicle: Shavit.

    Israeli optical reconnaisance satellite, evidently using an improved version of the Shavit booster and probably heavier and more capable than its predecessors.

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