TAUVEX

TAUVEX
טאווקס
OperatorTel Aviv University
ManufacturerEl-Op Electro-Optical Industries, part of Elbit Systems
Instrument typeThree telescopes
FunctionUV Astronomy
Properties
Number launched0

The Tel Aviv University Ultraviolet Explorer, or TAUVEX (Hebrew: טאווקס), is a space telescope array conceived by Noah Brosch of Tel Aviv University and designed and constructed in Israel for Tel Aviv University by El-Op,[1] Electro-Optical Industries, Ltd. (a division of Elbit systems) acting as Prime Contractor, for the exploration of the ultraviolet (UV) sky. TAUVEX was selected in 1988 by the Israel Space Agency (ISA) as its first priority scientific payload. Although originally slated to fly on a national Israeli satellite of the Ofeq series, TAUVEX was shifted in 1991 to fly as part of a Spektr-RG international observatory, a collaboration of many countries with the Soviet Union (Space Research Institute) leading.

Due to repeated delays of the Spektr project, caused by the economic situation in the post-Soviet Russia, ISA decided to shift TAUVEX to a different satellite. In early-2004 ISA signed an agreement with the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) to launch TAUVEX on board the Indian technology demonstrator satellite GSAT-4. The launch vehicle slated to be used was the GSLV with a new, cryogenic, upper stage. TAUVEX was a scientific collaboration between Tel Aviv University and the Indian Institute of Astrophysics in Bangalore. Its Principal Investigators were Noah Brosch at Tel Aviv University and Jayant Murthy at the Indian Institute of Astrophysics. Originally, TAUVEX was scheduled to be launched in 2008,[2] but various delays caused the integration with GSAT-4 to take place only in November 2009 for a launch the following year. ISRO decided in January 2010 to remove TAUVEX[3] from the satellite since the Indian-built cryogenic upper stage for GSLV was deemed under-powered to bring GSAT-4 to a geosynchronous orbit.[4] GSAT-4 was subsequently lost in the 15 April 2010 launch failure of GSLV.[5] On 13 March 2011 TAUVEX was returned to Israel and was stored at the Prime Contractor facility pending an ISA decision about its future. In 2012 ISA decided to terminate the TAUVEX project, against the recommendation of a committee it formed to consider its future that recommended its release for a high-altitude balloon flight.

  1. ^ "Elbit Systems About Us". elbitsystems.com. Retrieved 12 November 2022.
  2. ^ Subramanian, T.S. (16 November 2007). "Space launches and the cost factor". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 16 November 2007. Retrieved 25 February 2008.
  3. ^ "ISRO puts off Israeli payload's launch". Retrieved 12 November 2022.
  4. ^ "GSat 4 (HealthSat)". Gunter Dirk Krebs. 27 September 2009. Retrieved 12 April 2010.
  5. ^ Subramanian, T. S. (15 April 2010). "India's indigenous GSLV D3 rocket fails in mission". The Hindu. Retrieved 15 April 2010.