Shavit 2

Shavit 2
שביט

Function	Expendable launch vehicle
Manufacturer	Israel Aerospace Industries
Country of origin	Israel
Cost per launch	$18M
Size
Height	26.4 m
Diameter	1.35 m
Mass	30,500–70,000 kg
Stages	4
Capacity
Payload to LEO
Mass	350–800 kg [1]
Launch history
Status	Active
Launch sites	Palmachim Airbase
Total launches	12
Success(es)	10
Failure(s)	2
First flight	19 September 1988
Last flight	28 March 2023
First stage (LeoLink LK-1) – LK-1
Powered by	LK-1
Maximum thrust	553.8 kN (124,499 lbf)
Specific impulse	268 seconds
Burn time	55 seconds
Propellant	HTPB
First stage (LeoLink LK-2) – Castor 120
Maximum thrust	1650.2 kN (370,990 lbf)
Specific impulse	280 seconds
Burn time	82 seconds
Propellant	HTPB polymer, Class 1.3 C
Second stage – LK-1
Powered by	1 LK-1
Maximum thrust	515.8 kN
Specific impulse	268 seconds
Burn time	55 seconds
Propellant	HTPB
Third stage – RSA-3-3
Powered by	1 RSA-3-3
Maximum thrust	58.6 kN
Specific impulse	298 seconds
Burn time	94 seconds
Propellant	Solid
Fourth stage – LK-4
Powered by	1 LK-4
Maximum thrust	0.402 kN
Specific impulse	200 seconds
Burn time	800 seconds
Propellant	Hydrazine[2]
[edit on Wikidata]

Shavit 2 (Hebrew: "comet" – שביט) is a small lift launch vehicle produced by Israel from 1982 onwards, to launch satellites into low Earth orbit. It was first launched on 19 September 1988 (carrying an Ofek-1 satellite payload), making Israel the eighth nation to have an orbital launch capability^[3] after the USSR, United States, France, Japan, People's Republic of China, United Kingdom, and India.

The Shavit 2 project is believed to have been an offshoot development, resulting from Israel's Jericho nuclear armed intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) program.^[4][5]

Shavit rockets are launched from Palmachim Airbase by the Israel Space Agency into highly retrograde orbits over the Mediterranean Sea to prevent debris coming down in populated areas and also to avoid flying over nations hostile to Israel to the east; this results in a lower payload-to-orbit than east-directed launches would allow.^[3][6] The launcher consists of three stages powered by solid-fuel rocket motors, with an optional liquid-fuel fourth stage, and is manufactured by Israel Aircraft Industries (IAI).

The Republic of South Africa produced and tested a licensed version in cooperation with Israel called the RSA-3 in an ultimately unsuccessful bid to produce a domestic satellite launch vehicle and ballistic missile; the South African program was closed in 1994.^[7]

An earlier unrelated project called Shavit 2 was the first Israeli sounding rocket, launched on 5 July 1961 for meteorological research.^[8] Shavit Three, with an altitude reported as 100 miles (160 km), was launched on 11 August 1961.