Contacts with foreign space agencies are not taking off
The Israeli Space Agency announced a year ago about contacts with other agencies, to launch another Israeli astronaut. "We are talking about launching an astronaut in a time frame of about three years," the chairman of the space agency, Prof. Yitzhak Ben Israel, said at the time to Network B.
However, now the agency admits that the talks on the matter are not really progressing, and another Israeli astronaut will go into space in its excellent research - in the next decade. The Americans are expected to renew the manned flights in only two years, and with the other agencies, which launch astronauts with the help of Russia, all the flights have long been full. The contacts with China, which operates an independent space program and is not a member of the International Space Station, did not yield anything either.
"We are a small country, and we are not able to raise such a project on our own," says the director general of the space agency, Menachem Kidron. "We are talking to various space agencies, and it seems that it will take some more time. It's a dream we had, we started with it and it was cut short with great pain because of the event that happened. We want and are looking for the next astronaut. We make these calls here and there, point it there, and we hope it comes. I personally believe that it will arrive at the beginning of the next decade."
A week in space
In a week it will be 12 years since the Columbia shuttle crash, the disaster in which the first Israeli astronaut, Ilan Ramon, died along with his six colleagues. In preparation for this date, Israel Space Week is being celebrated starting today, with a series of events open to the public, including special audiovisual shows at the Land of Israel Museum in Tel Aviv, guided stargazing throughout the country, lectures, films, workshops and more. All are free, but some require pre-registration. "Space Week is just part of the activity we do all year to make space and science accessible to teenagers, children, students - to the general public," says Kidron. "All this with one goal with a very clear goal: we want to raise the next generation of scientists, and space is a great platform."
6 תגובות
The State of Israel, if it is already sealed - then God forbid it will produce electricity, if it is a satellite - then a military presence, if it is a settlement - then this is "revenge" on the Palestinians - and not love of the land. Israel is an amazing place, with gentle and beautiful nature. Pleasant climate, And warm people - but there is something not nice about the nature of this country.
Unfortunately, you are right.
Miraculously, the residents of Israel are still floating. Israel is not really a democracy, it is a fact that Bibi is a candidate for a third term, (some leaders think they are kings). With this it is related to the military, so they invest. But "just" science, research or development are limited.
I would combine - send the Prime Minister to Mars...
If the state invests 300 million shekels (say half of the amount of the ROHM residence, new). So it would be possible to send a probe to Mars. Israeli knowledge would accumulate that would give us an advantage. And if it is really "urgent" to send someone into space, then you can buy a seat on a flight at an exorbitant price. Considering that Israel invested 11 billion shekels in preparations for an attack on Iran, and that we have more submarines than Spain. So if there were If you want, you will do.