The Israel Space Agency in the Ministry of Innovation, Science and Technology will operate the program this year in 7 local authorities Minister Akunis: "Decided proof of the great success of the project". Last year, eight satellites were launched as part of the Israel Defense Forces project
The opening event of the TBL 2 program, the second round of the flagship space education program and the only one of its kind in the world, took place this week (Wednesday, February 1.2) at Tel Aviv University. The opening event took place as part of Israel Space Week 2023, which is led by the Israel Space Agency at the Ministry of Innovation, Science and Technology. The event was held in the presence of the Minister of Innovation, Science and Technology, MK Ofir Akunis, and with the participation of the Director General of the Ministry, Gadi Arieli, the Deputy Head of NASA, Robert (Bob) Cabana, the heads of the authorities participating in the program in the next 3 years, the teachers and the students, and Graduates from the first cycle of the program. The Ministry of Innovation, Science and Technology is investing about NIS 9 million in this program.
TBL (Students Building Satellites) is an educational-professional program that will provide its graduates with tools and skills for developing satellites and launching them into space, as was done in the first cycle of the program, which ended last year. The Tel Aviv program is held in cooperation with the Ministry of Education, and the project is recognized as a final project for matriculation in the frames of the STEM majors. The graduates of the program are going to be the spearhead and ambassadors of the country in the field of space, which has recently undergone a breakthrough with its opening for commercial uses, something that was previously the property of world powers.
TBL is a three-year program, in which high school students from the XNUMXth to the XNUMXth grade participate. The students participating in the program are fully trained to build a satellite; Starting from the characterization and planning phase, through the programming phase, the product construction phase, and ending with environmental experiments on Earth according to the characteristics of space, until its launch on a launch rocket by the Israel Space Agency's partners in the world. The Israel Defense Forces satellites will contain a detector laboratory for measuring radiation in space, which was developed by the Sorek Nuclear Research Center, and whose purpose is to map the radiation in space by its effect on electronic components.
Minister of Innovation, Science and Technology, MK Ofir Akunis: "The launch of Tavel 2: proof of the great success of Tavel that we launched about three years ago. I believed in the Tavel Meid project that was presented to me about three years ago and I ordered it to be launched, in a way that would include the maximum number of male and female Israeli students. The fact that we are launching the continuation of the project here is the decisive proof of its success. I undertake as the Minister of Innovation, Science and Technology to continue to strengthen the accessibility of science to all citizens of Israel, while focusing on human capital in general and our future generation - in particular."
NASA Deputy Head, Robert (Bob) Cabana: "I am honored to be here in Israel in honor of the Ilan Ramon International Space Conference and Israeli Space Week, and to promote educational efforts with students from all over the country. We appreciate the fact that you continue to remember Ilan Ramon and invest in the future of Israel's youth and in education for the STEM professions."
Director of the Israel Space Agency at the Ministry of Innovation, Science and Technology, Uri Oron: "After the success of the TBL 1 program, we are proud to start with the TBL 2 program. Today we already know that girls and boys from all over Israel, Jews and Arabs, religious and secular, can participate In an ambitious program in which they will build, launch and operate satellites. The program encompasses hundreds of students and affects their entire environment. The Israel Defense Forces program gives boys and girls a sense of capability and real experience in a growing and developing technological world and promotes the field of space in Israel.
Omri Dinor, a graduate of the first class of the TBL program from Sderot, who today volunteers for national service at the agency: "This program made a dream come true for us from another and distant planet. I did not imagine that my friends and I from the Negev would build a satellite from scratch at the age of 17, which at the end of a 3-year process would be launched into space. At these moments, our nanosatellite, T2,000-sng, and its brothers in the TBL series are sailing 5 km away from us, promoting education and Israeli space exploration while orbiting the Earth 12 times a day."
Dinor added that: "I look at tomorrow's team today and am filled with envy, but also pride, for the crazy journey they are going to go through, the one that will put them on a different life path, a different galaxy of life if you will. This is a field where all the clichés are true - the sky is indeed not the limit."
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