Israel has launched another military satellite to keep an eye on Iran as the Islamic Republic ramps up its nuclear development program.

While international leaders continue to negotiate with Iran over slowing down its race to develop nuclear arms – an intent it denies despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary – Israel is watching Tehran very closely. Iran has repeatedly vowed to wipe Israel “off the map.”

On Wednesday the Defense Ministry sent its newest “eye in the sky” heavenward to join its predecessors in the mission to keep tabs on Iran and other enemies of the Jewish State.

The Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI)’s Ofek 10 reconnaissance satellite is expected to orbit the Earth every 99 minutes – 800 times a year — from an altitude of 373 miles (600 kilometers) officials said. The process should take about 64,000 minutes annually. Like its predecessor, the new satellite was launched from the Palmachim Airbase near Rishon Lezion. And although the Ofek 9 carried a multi-spectral ‘Jupiter’ space camera produced by El-Op, its new brother has better equipment.

The camera on the Ofek 10 reportedly boasts resolution “much better than half a meter,” and is sharp enough to detect objects being carried by people, officials said. It is also capable of photographing under different lighting and changing weather conditions.

Two other Israeli satellites, the Ofek 5 and the Ofek 7, are still orbiting the Earth as well.

The Jewish State’s tenth satellite will also send images to other intelligence agencies.

Israel successfully  launched its “Ofek 10” satellite Wednesday night from the Palmachim Air Force Base near Tel Aviv.

The satellite has photo capabilities in all weather conditions and at night and is expected to bolster Israel’s intelligence system and security.

The above is a NASA satellite photo from this morning showing the snow in the Jerusalem environs and up in the Golan.

The Amos-4 communications satellite was successfully launched into space on Saturday night from Kazakhstan.

Spacecom, operator of the AMOS satellite fleet, announced that Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) has selected Space International Services, Ltd. (SIS) to launch the AMOS-4 commercial satellite. The launch is scheduled to take place this Saturday night from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

AMOS-4 will be the second AMOS satellite launched by SIS on its Zenit-3SLB launch vehicle. AMOS-3 was launched to its 4ºW orbital position in 2008 on the same vehicle. AMOS-4′s launch weight will be approximately 4.2 tons, demonstrating that SIS has significantly increased the Zenit-3SLB vehicle’s performance since the AMOS-3 launch.

The satellite is expected to have a lifespan of 12 years.

Here are some photos from its construction and transportation to the launch site.

Cool. I wish I was going with it.

After the Europeans pulled the plug on Iranian satellite transmissions because of the sanctions against Iran, Iranian stations are back on the air.

The Iranians have reportedly transferred their transmissions over to a Russian satellite, once again bypassing the sanctions against them.

The Wall Street Journal reports that up until October 15, IRIB (Iran’s broadcast company) was using the services of Eutelsat Communications for broadcasting.

Rather ironically, just a week earlier, Iran was jamming the signal from the Eutelsat satellite when it showed Iranian citizens protesting.

Iran has been jamming many satellite transmissions as of late, including those of Voice of America -Persion service, and BBC Persian.

New satellite images show possible recent nuclear activity at the Parchin facility in Iran as well as attempts to hide evidence of past activity.

A May 25 image of the facility east of Tehran revealed “ground-scraping activity” and the presence of bulldozers, according to diplomats quoted by international news services who attended a closed-door briefing by United Nations nuclear agency officials on Wednesday.

On Thursday, the Institute for Science and International Security posted a similar image on its website. Its image showed that two buildings that previously had been located on the site were razed, according to reports.

Last March, according to the International Atomic Energy Association, the nuclear watchdog of the U.N., satellite images showed crews and vehicles cleaning up radioactive evidence of a test nuclear explosion.

The United States, China, France, Russia, Germany and Great Britain jointly called on Iran to grant inspectors access to the site. An IAEA report last year said that construction developments at Parchin are “strong indicators of possible weapon development.” Iran has dismissed the charges against Parchin as “childish” and “ridiculous,” Reuters reported.

This most recent image is believed to be further evidence that Iran is “sanitizing” the site of any incriminating evidence before possibly allowing IAEA inspectors into the complex.

At Wednesday’s briefing, IAEA deputy director Gen. Herman Nackaerts presented the satellite images indicating that at least two small buildings had been removed.

Nackaerts did not elaborate on what he believed was happening at the site, apart from reiterating that the agency needed to go there to clarify the issue, diplomats told reporters.