The contract is for the production of the camera, which will be mounted onboard a micro satellite. The contract follows a successful feasibility study by El-Op.

The installation of the camera on the micro satellite is being made pursuant to a cooperation agreement implemented through a Memorandum Of Understanding, signed in June 2005 between the Israel Space Agency (ISA) and CNES, its French counterpart.

The contract was signed by El-Op and CNES at a ceremony at El-Op's facilities in Rehovot, Israel. CNES delegation was led by Mr. Pierre Moskwa, Director of Space - Toulouse Center. The ceremony was attended by the ISA's senior management.

The contract calls for the camera to be supplied in approximately 30 months. CNES intends to launch the satellite 8 months later.

The camera, designed and produced by El-Op, is a scientific camera used for research on land surfaces, especially for monitoring the productivity and carbon balance of ecosystems and crops and for water management of irrigated crops.

The camera is based on unique El-Op concepts of Super-spectral detectors, including 12 channels in the visible and the near infrared spectrum. The camera incorporates cutting-edge concepts and technology, and will be capable of producing images with a resolution of approximately 5.3 meters.

This is the first cooperation between ISA and the French Space Agency CNES. Within the framework of this cooperation, CNES is signing, for the first time, a contract with El-Op.

Mr. Haim Rousso, El-Op's General Manager, said: "we see great potential for the camera in additional scientific and commercial applications such as agriculture, ground mapping, environment and Security monitoring and research."

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