Towards the launch of Amos 2 - on Israel's capacity in space, as of the date of writing the review
(This news was written before the announcement about the postponement of the launch)
Israel is a space power. It is one of eight countries capable of launching satellites with rockets they built themselves. Ilan Ramon's ascension into space on the American space shuttle Columbia takes place, coincidentally, only one month after the launch of the Ofek 5 photography satellite, again using a Shavit 2 rocket, from the Palmachim Air Force Base. The scientific experiment, MEIDEX, which will be operated by Ramon is another proof of Israel's ability in the field of space.
Experiments in launching comet rockets have been going on since the 19s. It was so easy back then to enter the space age that even the students of the Haifa High School launched their own two-stage rocket. On September 1988, 1, the State of Israel launched into space the first Israeli satellite - "Ofek-XNUMX", a satellite developed and built in Israel, using an Israeli satellite launcher - "Shavit". According to the Director of the Israel Space Agency, Avi Har-Evan, with this launch the State of Israel declared the seriousness of its intentions to enter the space age.
"This launch was a peak in the activity that began in the early 70s with the integration of scientists
Israel in space research continued through the establishment of the Israel Space Agency under the Ministry of Science in 1983, and reached, as mentioned, an international achievement with the launch of the Ofek-1 satellite."
"Since this historic launch, the State of Israel has had other impressive achievements such as, a year later, the launch of the Ofek 2 satellite, the launch of the Ofek 3 satellite in 1995 which stayed in space for over 5 years, the launch (via a French launcher) of the Amos geostationary communication satellite in 1996 , the launch of the Technion's student satellite - Texat/Gravin 2 in 1998 and the launch of a one-of-a-kind commercial observation satellite (EROS) in December 2000.
These achievements and other developments such as the development of the TAUVEX scientific telescope, participation in the "David" project and the Dutch scientific satellite project SLOSHAT, were made possible thanks to excellent scientific and technological personnel and a modern industrial infrastructure. "
"Israel's capabilities in the field of space allowed it to integrate into international research and technological projects, and constituted a "recommendation" to other space agencies such as those of the USA, France, Russia, Germany, Ukraine and India to sign various cooperation agreements with us."
And Har-Evan concludes: "The Israeli Space Agency, despite its small budget compared to the budgets of other space agencies in the world, aims through its international relations and funding of research projects in Israel, to promote the issue of space in Israel, a field that promotes and influences the development of all scientific and technological research in the State of Israel. "
