SpaceX starts Israeli

SpaceX started a Falcon 9 rocket with the Israeli satellite of Drora 1 early Sunday.

The mission, which SpaceX referred to as “commercial GTO-1”, was withdrawn on Sunday, July 13th, at 1:04 a.m. Edt (0504 UTC).

Despite the confidentiality before the launch, the falcon 9 payload cladding wore the IAI logo, a state company belonging in Israel. The company finally confirmed the start of its droric satellite in a press release that published several hours after the start.

“We at IAI are extremely proud of the development and the successful start of the state of Israel” Drora 1 “National Communications satellite,” said Boaz Levy, CEO and President of the IAI, in an explanation. “DROR 1 is the most advanced communication satellite that has ever been built in Israel to preserve this national strategic ability in the country and to offer Israel significant satellite communication skills for the coming years.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SMH75RW8PIM

SpaceX used the Falcon 9 booster with the first stage rear number B1083, which flew for the 13th time. The crew-8 of NASA, Polaris Dawn and CRS-31 were among the previous missions.

About 8.5 minutes after the upswing, B1083 landed on SpaceX's droneship “Just read the instructions”. This was the 128th touchdown for this ship and the previous 474th booster landing.

Pre-launch secretion

The veil of confidentiality around the mission is not often seen for a commercial SpaceX start. Although the commercial GTO-1 mission is rare, SpaceX was not first asked by a customer not to publish any public information. Starts for the National Reconnaissance Office and the US world space force are often kept under lock and key for national security reasons.

In November 2024, SpaceX started a mission that is simply referred to as TD7. Regulatory submissions described the payload 'Optus-X', which was connected to a company called Optus, a company that with Singel Australia Investment Ltd. was connected.

The SpaceX webcast ended at the customer's request after landing the first stage.

During the withdrawal of the Strongback in space start complex 40 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, the payload panels from Falcon 9 showed the logo for Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI). SpaceX only described the owner of the satellite as a “customer” during his show. Image: SpaceX via Livestreamiai announced the development of the satellite of Dror 1 in January 2020 and said it was intended for 15 years. The satellite was developed by the systems, rockets and room groups of the company.

“We are pleased to get ahead with Drori 1, the most advanced communication satellite that has ever been built in Israel,” said Boaz Levy at that time. “There will be numerous state -of -the -art technologies that have been created here in Israel and contain high -quality digital functions.

The satellite of droric 1 is designed in such a way that it is operated in the geostationary earth orbit of around 36,000 km. Iai said that the press release in January 2020 was that the satellite is part of an Israeli strategy from 2018 to establish an Orbit communication system developed for its national interests.

“This state decision results from the understanding that the ability to independently communicate is of critical national importance and to enable the preservation of knowledge and specialist knowledge in recent years,” wrote IAI.

According to a report on the satellite from 2020 in Jedish News Syndicate (JNS), a news agency that focuses on topics related to Israel and other Jewish people around the world, the four tons of satellite has a number of components from Israel and is like a smartphone.

“This is a fully digital satellite that can upload applications. It can transmit data from one antenna and receive from someone else,” Shlomi Sudri, General Manager of the Space Division of IAI, told JNS.

The satellite seems to be part of the Amos Communications satellite series from Iai. These are multi-band satellite buses that are located in the 3-6 ton class.

The last Amos -Nutz load built by the IAI, which is to be placed on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, Amos 6, was destroyed when an explosion in the upper stage of the rocket occurred in front of a planned static test fire on September 1, 2016.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_bgjexqkjnq