Judah Ari Gross is The Times of Israel's religions and Diaspora affairs correspondent.
The Defense Ministry launched the Ofek-11 reconnaissance satellite into orbit from an air force base in central Israel on Tuesday, the ministry said in a statement.
The Israel Aerospace Industries satellite was launched using a Shavit rocket, a locally designed space launch vehicle.
It was shot into space from the Palmachim Air Base, just outside the Tel Aviv suburb of Rishon Lezion, at approximately 5:30 p.m.
The Ofek-11 is an upgrade from the Ofek-10 satellite launched in April 2014. It will join the approximately 10 other satellites, including the Ofek-10, Ofek-9, Ofek-7 and Ofek-5, that feed intelligence to Israel’s security forces.
The Amos-6, Israel’s largest ever satellite, and the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on which it was perched go up in flames after the rocket exploded on the launch pad during a static fire test at a launch facility at Cape Canaveral in Florida on September 1, 2016. (YouTube screen capture)
The satellite launch comes less than two weeks after the civilian Amos-6 communications satellite was destroyed when the SpaceX rocket carrying it exploded on the launchpad in Cape Canaveral, Florida.
Get The Times of Israel's Daily Editionby email and never miss our top stories
Facebook had planned to use the satellite, which was built by Israeli company Spacecom, to beam high-speed internet to sub-Saharan Africa.
Help us report truthfully on social media
As a multimedia journalist, my job is to take the quality, fact-based journalism produced by The Times of Israel newsroom and make it accessible across every platform — from Instagram posts to podcasts to short-form videos.
This is how many, especially young people, consume news these days. But misinformation is rampant on social media. Our team at ToI produces accurate, responsible short-form reporting on Israel and the Jewish world.
If you believe in the importance of factual social media journalism, please consider joining our reader support group, The Times of Israel Community. Your financial support is essential to sustain responsible multimedia reporting.
We’re really pleased that you’ve read X Times of Israel articles in the past month.
That’s why we started the Times of Israel - to provide discerning readers like you with must-read coverage of Israel and the Jewish world.
So now we have a request. Unlike other news outlets, we haven’t put up a paywall. But as the journalism we do is costly, we invite readers for whom The Times of Israel has become important to help support our work by joining The Times of Israel Community.
For as little as $6 a month you can help support our quality journalism while enjoying The Times of Israel AD-FREE, as well as accessing exclusive content available only to Times of Israel Community members.
Thank you, David Horovitz, Founding Editor of The Times of Israel
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on Google
