Not abandoned launch of Israeli satellite: ISRO

ISRO said it has not abandoned plans to launch an Israeli military satellite, TechSAR and said discussions were on with Tel Aviv to finalise the launch date.

ISRO said it has not abandoned plans to launch an Israeli military satellite, TechSAR and said discussions were on with Tel Aviv to finalise the launch date.

“We have not finalised the launch date of the Israeli satellite. Some technical discussions are going on (with Israeli officials). After that (conclusion of discussions), we will finalise the (launch) date”, Chairman of Indian Space Research Organisation G Madhavan Nair.

Reports published in a section of the media suggested that New Delhi has abandoned the launch of the Israeli satellite with synthetic aperture radar due to US pressure.

Asked if the plan to launch the Israeli satellite have been dropped, Nair, also Secretary in the Department of Space and Space Commission Chairman, said “nothing of that kind. We have not even scheduled the launch date. How can you drop ?”.

ISRO was expected to launch the satellite by its polar satellite launch vehicle in September last though it had not officially set any date for the blast-off. It’s a commercial launch, wherein the Bangalore-headquartered space agency charges a fee, a multi-million dollar one, though the exact amount is generally not disclosed.

ISRO officials maintained in recent weeks that there are some technical issues that need to be resolved with makers of this satellite before a launch date is finalised.