RASHI, RAMBAM and RAMALAMADINGDONG
A Quizbook of Jewish Trivia Facts & Fun
A Quizbook of Jewish Trivia Facts & Fun
The United States recently shot down a Chinese spy balloon which had sailed across the American continent. Since that time, there have been reports of previous Chinese spy balloons. And the United States military has now shot down three additional unidentified objects, over Alaska, Canada’s Yukon Territory, and Michigan. Of course, many countries have utilized spy balloons, satellites, and other forms of reconnaissance, including Israel. In July 2020 Israel launched the Ofek 16 reconnaissance satellite into space, the latest in a series of military satellite launches going back to 1988. Israel has also deployed a series of commercial spy satellites under the EROS name (Earth Resources Observation Satellite), with the EROS C-3 satellite having been sent into space last December. How was the EROS C-3 satellite delivered into orbit?
EROS-B Satellite is in the public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
A. As part of the Israel-Germany Strategic Alliance program established in 2021 when German Prime Minister Angela Merkel visited Israel, the two countries greatly expanded their military intelligence sharing. As part of this effort, Germany agreed to launch three Israeli spy satellites into space, including the EROS C-3 satellite which was deployed last December.
B. The Israeli satellite was launched into space on a Falcon 9 rocket sent up by Elon Musk’s company, SpaceX. The rocket was launched from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.
C. The Israel Space Agency, known in Hebrew as Sokhnut heKhalal haYisraelit, launched the satellite from the Palmachim Airbase located on the Mediterranean coast near the city of Rishon LeZion.
D. The EROS C-3 satellite was sent into space by the United States Air Force, utilizing a rocket launched by Virgin Galactic, the space flight company founded by Richard Branson. The launch took place from Virgin Galactic’s Spaceport America base north of Las Cruces, New Mexico.
E. In an arrangement between the Israeli Defense Forces Air and Space Division and Bezalel Smotrich, leader of the Religious Zionist Party, the satellite was raised into the heavens via Jacob’s ladder. In exchange for access to the ladder, the IDF promised the Religious Zionist Party that it would not take spy pictures on the Sabbath.
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