JERUSALEM, July 13, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - Israel on Sunday said it had launched a 
new national communications satellite on board a SpaceX rocket from the 
United States.

The Dror 1 satellite was blasted into orbit on a Falcon 9 from Cape Canaveral 
in Florida, Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) and the foreign ministry said.

"This $200 million 'smartphone in space' will power Israel's strategic and 
civilian communications for 15 years," the ministry wrote on X.

Accompanying video footage showed the reusable, two-stage rocket lift off 
into the night sky. SpaceX said the launch happened at 1:04 am in Florida 
(0504 GMT Sunday).

IAI, which called the launch "a historic leap for Israeli space technology", 
said when it announced the project to develop and build Dror 1 that it was 
"the most advanced communication satellite ever built in Israel".

In September 2016, an unmanned Falcon 9 rocket exploded during a test in 
Florida, destroying Israel's Amos-6 communications satellite, which was 
estimated to have cost between $200 and 300 million.