This was confirmed by the Ministry of Innovation, Science and Technology in cooperation with the Innovation Authority
Minister of Innovation, Science and Technology, Orit Farkash HaCohen: "Congratulations and joy for the important initiative of the Israel Space Agency in my office to promote civil developments in the field of space. The global space field is undergoing a real revolution. The market has doubled in size in the past decade and is expected to grow to a trillion dollar value in the coming years. The State of Israel has recognized advantages in the field of space, but mainly in the security worlds. That's why we must now educate and promote the civilian field of space as well and connect it to the Israeli high-tech industry and this is exactly what this program of the space agency is doing. The program will strengthen and promote 11 technology companies in the fields of satellite communications, rocket propulsion, sensors that will contribute to dealing with climate change, mineral mining, agriculture and more. The field of space is in flux and touches all areas of our lives - and this plan is part of an important process of strengthening this industry."
Brigadier General (Res) Uri Oron. Director of the Israeli Space Agency, in the Ministry of Innovation, Science and Technology: "The global space industry is at a point of unprecedented growth, the route allows new players to enter the field in Israel, as well as strengthening existing companies, while leveraging technological capabilities in the field of space that exist in Israel. This combination constitutes an economic and social growth engine."
Dror Bin, CEO of the Innovation Authority: "The development of the space industry in Israel is a lever for economic and social growth. Investment in the field of space leverages existing strengths, thus creating a match between the growing fields in the field and Israeli capabilities - AI, cyber and remote sensing. The support of the Innovation Authority and the Israel Space Agency is only given after a comprehensive professional evaluation of the project and is a sign of quality for companies in the industry and makes it easier for them to recruit investors down the road."
The Israel Space Agency in the Ministry of Innovation, Science and Technology and the Innovation Authority jointly promote a support track in the field of space that encourages research and development to find innovative technological solutions and advanced products in the fields of space, which also includes using a space environment or receiving, processing and analyzing data from space. As part of the track, which has been in place since 2012, about 62 R&D programs have already been carried out and received grants of about 160 million NIS.
The purpose of the track is to strengthen the knowledge and technological development capacity of the space industry in Israel, to encourage the growth of start-up companies in the fields of space technologies, to encourage the use of existing technologies for use in a space environment, to reduce knowledge gaps compared to what is happening in the space markets in the world and to improve the competitiveness of the industry in Israel and to increase the use of the industry the Israeli in scientific knowledge in the fields of space technologies
The track is intended for companies that develop products in the fields of space intended for installation in satellites or in ground stations used for SHOB and communication purposes, for companies that develop instruments and equipment for calibration and testing of products in the fields of space intended for installation in satellites or related to their operation, for companies that develop products in the fields of space intended for operation in a space environment or for installation in space systems and to the companies involved in processing and analyzing data from space.
As part of the track, companies were approved for financial support at the rate of 50%-20% of the R&D expenses. Companies that are not large and when the product that is the object of the program is intended for operation in space only - grant rates are even higher - 60%, 70%, 80% or 85%. These percentages, which are higher than the other sub-routes, express the risk and the technological complexity and the expensive infrastructures for development in the space environment.
The track enables engagement in long-term R&D for the development of future products and innovative technologies that give the company a competitive advantage, enable penetration into new markets and strengthen the general growth of the Israeli economy.
The route offers participation in the risks involved in the development process, independent of profits or future successes. A supported company will return to the Innovation Authority the funding it received by paying royalties from sales, only if the venture succeeded in reaching the commercialization stage.
The criteria according to which the companies were evaluated are:
- The product and technology - the degree of technological innovation, the technological depth, uniqueness, technological barriers to competitors, the existence of a cohesive work plan to achieve the goals of the program and the expected achievements at the end of the program.
- The R&D team - the capabilities of the R&D team available to the applicant in order to achieve the goals of the program.
- Business plan - having a cohesive business model to realize the potential inherent in the product.
- The local market and the global market - the size of the market and its growth rate, the expected market share for the product in the space sector, the advantages of the product and its price compared to competitors.
- The local and global space market - the size of the market and its growth rate, the expected market share for the product in the space field, the advantages of the product and its price compared to competing products.
The winning companies are:
- Ayka Communication Systems Ltd. The company is researching an advanced satellite communication system (Internet of Things). As part of the research, Ayka is developing an advanced communication method that allows a large amount of messages to be transmitted from IOT networks via LEO satellites, in a way that allows more messages to be transmitted in a given tape width. In these networks, the width of the tape is limited, so increasing the capacity is of great importance. In addition, Ayka is developing technologies that will allow in the future to provide small and cheap communication terminals that will work with the LEO networks, this groundbreaking technology will make it possible to provide continuous communication to autonomous cars, to enable a link even in cases where there is no cellular coverage available
and thereby allow autonomous cars to travel in places that are not covered by ground communication.
- Paxis Ltd. The SpaceSiC project at Pexis is a three-year project that was involved in the development of a ceramic material dedicated to methods for the production of complex/XNUMXD structures and bodies from silicon carbide for satellite and space applications.
- Tra Spice Love- Dealing with the development of a dedicated space scanner with a multispectral infrared sensor. The unique pod that was developed is installed on nanosatellites (6U and above) without the need for substantial changes in the satellite body (Hosted Payload), enables multispectral space scanning in the IR field and real-time data processing in space. A combination of fast return time, use of high spatial resolution (than the competitors), ability to process and respond in real time, at a significantly low cost is a cornerstone of a nanosatellite array.
- N.S.L.Com Ltd. The company is engaged in the development of technologies for global land coverage using nano-satellite constellations. In recent years, the demand for global communication in large files adapted to the needs of customers has been increasing. The program will focus on the development of innovative core technologies that will enable the development of a variety of long-term solutions based on unique satellites and antennas.
The core technologies that will be developed are:
- Composite materials have the same behavior and performance in both gravity and no-gravity conditions
- Reflect array antenna technology combines multiple beams (multi beam) at Ka/K frequencies that supports broadband
- Ability to route between satellites and between points on the ground without gateways
(channelizer.
- Gorilla Link- The company is investigating the placement of satellite communications in systems without prior knowledge. The Gorilla Link company develops a product that simply integrates satellite communication capabilities in IoT solutions offered to end customers, without the need for a commitment to a particular satellite network or prior knowledge of satellite communication. The technology harnesses many satellite networks for the purpose of providing global satellite communication coverage for Internet of Things (IoT) solutions located in areas without cellular coverage or as a backup in cases where there is no stable cellular network. The development provides a platform that will allow IoT manufacturers and end users to connect to a satellite network in a simple and fast way without the need to hire professional engineers and without committing to a specific satellite network. The development will enable a quick and cheap implementation that will eventually provide stable Internet communication from anywhere and at any time.
- SCD- The company is engaged in the development of a wide-band VIS - Extended SWIR multi-pixel detector for a space hyperspectral camera. The project will develop an innovative and groundbreaking detector in a large format with a wide and high spectral response in the field of Visible + SWIR + Extended SWIR. The Extended SWIR detector with a large format and a wide film response is required for a variety of space applications including photographing the Earth from space when you want to cover a large area with a high resolution by a large number of pixels, and at the same time receive high resolution hyperspectral information in order to identify different materials in sensing Passive from a distance. In this way it is possible to identify the difference between natural vegetation and camouflage, different minerals on land, density of different substances in the atmosphere (aerosols, water vapor, etc.), oil stains and pollution in the sea, diseases of plants and forests, identification of fires, data on the ground for agricultural purposes (moisture , organic materials, salinity, etc.). Since the energy levels (vibration, rotation) of many molecules are in the SWIR range, the application of hyperspectral remote sensing has great value in this area.
- Spice Plasmatics Ltd. Development of an electric propulsion system for microsatellites - as part of this project, an electric propulsion system for small satellites based on plasma Hall Thruster technology will be developed with the smallest dimensions and electrical power on the market today. The propulsion system will include an innovative engine called microHET based on groundbreaking developments and patents by the entrepreneur, Dr. Yigal Kronhaus, as part of his work at the academy. The technological innovation concerns the new geometry of the engine channel which uses a narrow metal channel, where the thickness of the section at the exit is only 1 mm. The small volume of the channel allows the ionization of the gas and the creation of plasma with extremely small gas flows and electric power. The product also makes use of the unique and innovative knowledge concerning the ignition of this type of engine. The functional innovation of the final product will be expressed in the fact that it is a motor that operates at only about 20 watts and produces a thrust of 1 milli-newton and has a total thrust suitable for all types of tasks expected for small satellites, thus improving their performance in aspects of changing orbit, maintaining orbit, de-orbit, and maneuvers to avoid debris Space (collision avoidance).
- Newrocket – The company is engaged in the development of a space propulsion system for an upper stage in a launcher and large satellites. Chemical rocket engines for space use are currently based mainly on hydrazine, which is used as a single-propellant, and hydrazine-based materials used in energetic double-propellant assemblies. Hydrazine is an extremely toxic substance. Its use significantly increases the costs of the space project and endangers those involved in it, therefore the space industry is prevented from finding alternative propellants. Alternative propellants developed today mainly include monopropellants defined as having "reduced toxicity", whose performance is lower than the performance of Neuroket's dual propellants. The purpose of the project is to improve and continue maturing materials, processes and control technologies for the guidance and orbiting system for the upper stage of a satellite launcher, based on rocket engines driven by bi-propellant gel (green) - that is, non-toxic propellant. As part of the project, a demonstration of a basic propulsion system based on a green two-thrust drive with N400 and N25 thrusts will be developed. The double-header is unique and originates from many years of development work at the Technion and Newrocket. The system is designed for main propulsion systems for launchers (mainly upper stage systems), and propulsion systems for satellites, spacecraft and landers, where issues such as weight reduction, performance and costs are extremely significant.
- Ramon Spice- The company was established in an attempt to respond to Israel's strategic need at the time to build chips for satellites, since there are many restrictions on the import of chips for space purposes, mainly from the USA. Ramon Space is currently developing the next generation of space chips that will specialize in processing signals and information received by satellites. For example, when taking a picture, these chips will be able to process and improve the picture and even discover predefined objects or features in it. Satellites for civil environmental purposes, such as the Israeli "Venus" being built by the Israeli Aerospace Industry by the Israel Space Agency, will be able to use these chips in the future to process the information coming from photographs of farmers' fields, for example, and to process the information regarding the irrigation of fields. Instead of sending the image to Earth, the advanced chip will allow the information to be processed as soon as it is received in space and to overcome the limitations of transferring too many data from satellites to Earth. In the commercial aspect, the chips developed by Ramon Spice are also suitable for communication satellites such as Amos satellites. Alongside the commercial aspect, Ramon Space's space chips also have a place of honor in international space missions. At the beginning of December 2014, the Japanese Space Agency (JAXA) launched a spacecraft The Ayabusa 2 to her mission to explore one of the Apollo asteroids. The Ayabusa 2 carried on it a computer chip designed by the Ramon Space company and manufactured by the Tower company in Migdal Ha'Emek.
