ISRO to launch Israeli space telescope

Israeli and Indian technical space science teams will meet in New Delhi in January to prepare a timetable for launching an Israeli TAUVEX experimental ultra-violet research telescope aboard India's GSLV GSAT-4 satellite by September 2005.
The development follows on the heels of last week's signing in New Delhi of an MoU between the Israel Space Agency (ISA) and the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).

ISA has allocated four million US dollar to finance the project's new interface programmes. These will adapt the TAUVEX's (Tel Aviv University Ultra Violet Experiment) three, 20-cm wide field identical co-aligned Ritchley-Chretien UV telescopes to India's 6.5 tonne GSLV which will hurl GSAT-4 into space from Antariksh Bhavan space satellite station.

Israeli and Indian science and industry teams will fly between New Delhi and Tel Aviv in efforts to complete the technical adaptations by June 2005 when the 32 kg telescope is scheduled to arrive in India for final tests prior to the launch.

To date Israel has invested 14 million US dollar in developing its UV telescope to probe the secrets of the universe. Its Israeli manufacturers, Electro Optics Ltd (Elop), claim it is superior to previous generation X-ray telescopes developed by Israel, Denmark, Italy, the US and France.

Jerusalem, December 29, 2003 (PTI)