Space (illustration)
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Israel to become international lab for space equipment
Israeli space scientists developing tiny satellites are about to enter field worth hundreds of millions of dollars a year
A group of Israeli scientists is about to turn Israel
into an international "laboratory" for equipment slated to be sent to space. This market is evaluated at some hundreds of millions of dollars a year.
The global space industry is following with interest the tiny satellite project of a group of young Israeli space scientists.
The group's activity began in 2004. Its members, who work in the Israeli defense industries and in key research bodies, established the Israeli Nano Satellite Association.
These days the association members are building three tiny satellites, each weighing only 5 kilograms (11 pounds). One will be used to examine navigation systems like the GPS, which will be based on a "swarm" of tiny satellites.
The other two satellites will be used as space laboratories for the examination of space equipment. Today equipment installed in satellites is being examined in special laboratories on earth, but these conditions are not similar to the ones in space.
The group members plan to turn this solution into a business: Space equipment manufacturers will deliver the equipment to a business organization which will be established in Israel. The organization will launch the equipment to space through nano-satellites, and there they will be examined in real-life conditions before they are installed in satellites worth tens and even hundreds of millions of dollars.
The first nano-satellites will be launched to space at the end of 2008 through a Russian Dnepr satellite, which can enter a large number of such tiny satellites into space.
