Maariv said this morning that NASA is already showing interest in the project, which is in the research stages at the Judea and Samaria College in Ariel.
The road to Mars goes through Samaria
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Uri Yablonka wrote Maariv Moser that the Israeli Space Agency supports the development of an innovative project to build a vehicle that will travel on Mars. The Ministry of Science allocated a special budget for research currently being carried out at the Judea and Samaria College in Ariel. Ultimately, the vehicle is intended to be integrated into NASA's American space program. The development team is led by Prof. Zvi Schiller, an expert in robotics and mechanical engineering from Kiryat-Ono. "NASA's current robot on Mars navigates from the ground, and the innovation I propose is a completely independent robot that can navigate alone on Mars," Schiller explains.
For the purpose of developing the project, Schiller is in continuous professional contact with his colleagues at the American Space Agency. In light of the Americans' interest in the project, the Israeli Space Agency adopted it and recently transferred an initial sum of NIS 150 for the development of the computer software that will form the heart of the new Mars rover. An official at the Judea and Samaria College estimates that within a few weeks a prototype of the space vehicle will be built, and the experiments on its operation will begin. In about two years, the construction of the final product will be completed.
The Israeli vehicle, Schiller promises, will be able to photograph the route of the surface of Mars and find by itself the best way to travel on the Red Planet, without any involvement from Earth. According to the Minister of Science, Culture and Sports Eliezer (Mudi) Zandberg, "This project is part of our effort to locate technological fields where the State of Israel can carry out research that will become applied and establish Israel's position. My goal is for Israel to enter industrial projects in the field of space, and to integrate into both European and American space programs."
The Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Judea and Samaria College, Yigal Cohen-Orgad, added that "we are interested in developing projects of security and civilian importance, which will contribute in the long term to both Israel's prestige and its economy".
Ydan Mars
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