From nine satellites in various stages of construction in 2005, to only one satellite in 2009

The space industry must receive an immediate injection of budgets in order to compare the national investment in space per capita with that of other powers and capture a market share of billions of dollars, said the participants of the Knesset Science and Technology Committee meeting.

The heads of the Israeli space industry are beginning to see alarming trends that, if attention is not given to them as soon as possible, may harm Israel's leadership in the field of the production of launchers and their parts, satellites, cameras and other equipment in which it is among the world leaders, if immediate investment is not poured in, mainly through the construction of infrastructures, Financing of R&D activities and ordering satellites.

This was stated in the discussion held yesterday (XNUMX) in the Science and Technology Committee of the Knesset regarding the future of the Israeli space industry. The Minister of Science, MK Prof. Daniel Hershkovitz, Chairman of the Committee MK Meir Shtrit, Chairman of the Israel Space Agency Prof. Yitzhak Ben-Israel, Director General of the Israel Space Agency Dr. Zvi Kaplan, Head of the Program participated in the discussion. Military Space Dr. Haim Ashad, member of the MoSh Or-Tess, as well as representatives of the Ministry of Defense, the Ministry of Defense, the Ministry of Infrastructure, the MoSh, the Aerospace Industry, the Fisher Institute for Space Research, representatives of the Shmuel Naaman Center at the Technion, representatives of ISERD, MMG Sorek, Raphael, university representatives and more.

The Minister of Science, MK Prof. Daniel Hershkovich said that Israel is a member of the exclusive club of countries that have the ability to produce and launch a satellite and process and receive the information received from it. The industrial space is growing and the volume of sales is huge, but our business potential is not exhausted. Israel is sitting on a gold mine and we are not mining it efficiently enough.

The chairman of the committee, MK Meir Shetrit, opened by saying that science must be 'put on the map' and mentioned the signing of the cooperation agreement with Italy in the field of space, which was signed by the Minister of Science a few weeks ago.

Prof. Ben Israel reviewed the space industry in Israel which was originally built on the need for security, but it has great industrial, scientific and technological significance. Ben Yisrael pointed out that the government's investment is about 60 million dollars in civil space in 2008 and that Israel, which is one of 7 satellite manufacturers, should put the investment amount at 150 million dollars a year.

According to Ben Israel's plan, the budgets will be divided, among other things, for Israel's integration as a member of the European Space Agency (the rate - between 5 million dollars for partial membership and 20 million for full membership). This membership will allow Israeli companies to access the agency's tenders without restriction, and Israeli scientists will have access to telescopes and other scientific equipment.

Another 50 million dollars per year will be dedicated to building satellites. Ben Israel separates between research satellites and satellites for civilian applications. As for research satellites, according to the estimate, the cost of developing a satellite is 100 million dollars and it lasts over four years, if you want to launch one satellite every two years, at any given moment there will be two satellites in different stages of development. The ambition is to develop satellites in international collaborations and pooling resources within the country.

According to Ben Israel, satellites for civil applications (communication, photography) will receive an annual budget of 50 million dollars, here too the concept is international cooperation, as well as the possibility of using the satellites for dual use - civil and military.

Smaller budgets of 5-10 million dollars per subject will be dedicated to investment in research and research infrastructures as well as industrial infrastructures in the field of space. Another similar amount will be allocated to ongoing activities, including the direction of institutional research, the operation and management of civil satellites, the employment of professional personnel in the field of space, marketing activities, information and knowledge management, and more.

Ben Yisrael also added that space is an essential tool for the protection of life on Earth; A key to knowing the universe, the earth and its environment; lever for technological advancement; A key to the floor of a modern society and a developed economy based on knowledge; A center of attraction for quality scientific and technological manpower.

The reasons for national investments in space are for the needs of national security against external and internal threats, the advancement of industry and the economy, the advancement of science and technology, the well-being of the citizen and the good of society, the improvement of the country's geopolitical status, the expansion of human knowledge, the satisfaction of human curiosity and the strengthening of national pride.

Prof. Haim Ashad emphasized that the Israeli space program, established about 30 years ago, was bold and ambitious at the time and contributed to Israel's technological, scientific and economic development. Israel is a world leader, but, unfortunately, the industry is in a deep crisis. The infrastructures are old and worn out, there is no government support for R&D and there is a wave of layoffs. There is no investment in the next generation and this prevents progress and competition. The state must help, especially in infrastructural research. The ability to train space engineers of the next generation is being undermined before our eyes, this field is shrinking and there is a continuous decrease in the number of students. We are in a rapid process of losing an advantage in the world due to the decrease in government support for the academy and the industry cannot alone bear the heavy costs. Ashad concluded by saying that a new look at Israel's place in space with a national vision is needed today and that Israel must adopt the space program as a national program.

"In the areas we chose to focus on due to budget considerations and need, the Israeli space industry is a world leader, but as someone who initiated and promoted the space sector in the last thirty years, the industry is in crisis."

Among other things, Prof. Ashad mentioned the construction of the Amos 5 satellite in Russia by a space company, after the Russian government actually subsidized the satellite and the launcher with about 50 million dollars to provide work for the Russian space industries: "Israel was leading until recently and was ranked based on past achievements as a leader in the world in the number of publications per capita in the world. In the state of Ishal, an impressive academic and industrial infrastructure was established in the field of space over the 30 years, including 30 factories with a backlog of orders of 200 million dollars that were invested back into the factories, but this is not enough, and there is a role for the government to support the infrastructure in research and BCA in the field of space."

"The space field is an important, groundbreaking field that brings progress and development, but it is budgeted all over the world thanks to government investments. Even today, the main players in the space field are countries that invest the necessary resources because the industry alone cannot bear the costs of R&D without government support. This is why we are at a crossroads today. The investments of the past ended up disappearing from the world in the absence of government investment."

In conclusion, Ashad says that the urgency is high: "Two years ago in a similar yeshiva I said that space is of great importance in the State of Israel for education in science and technology and the development of human capital and warned that the field must be made a national field. We must deal with the problem once and for all. The field of space deserves to be examined at a national level. The State Comptroller also said that space must be treated as a national project and they didn't listen to me."

Moshe Orts, as mentioned, a member of the National Research and Development Council - the National Research and Development Council explained that: "The capabilities that Israel has gained in the field of space allowed it to integrate into international research and technological projects, constituting 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."
"The Israeli Space Agency, despite its small budget compared to the budgets of other space agencies in the world, faces the national challenge of developing international relations under severe financial constraints, in order to finance research projects in Israel, thus promoting the issue of space in Israel."

Considerations focusing on the "operational need" level and the "differentiation level" and long-term issues for consideration. The first topic that Orts proposes to focus on is the field of visual intelligence: "The space industry in Israel has positioned itself at the leading technological front, in the field of visual intelligence: electro-optical, and SAR sensors). This field gave the State of Israel strategic depth, through the ability to observe from space, any relevant area, in all weather conditions, day and night."
Another area is warning and signal intelligence: a country's ability, in any future war, to receive early warning about the launch of long-range ballistic missiles towards it, and the ability to gain control over signal intelligence from space gives it an important superiority. Focusing on the program designed to deepen the intelligence infrastructure has a very important weight. - To fuse information originating from visual intelligence from space with information originating from warning intelligence and signal intelligence from space, and information from other sources serves as a force multiplier for intelligence superiority.

An important area in which Israel has impressive achievements is in the field of propulsion and launches into space. Efforts should be focused on a program that will improve the performance of the launcher at the level of: satellite weight, reliability, mobility, orbit height, and at the same time examine long-term implications for developing aerial launch capabilities for satellites in low Earth orbit.

The field of "dedicated microsatellites" in space, including in the fields of launch, platform and payloads, must be examined with a comprehensive and long-term vision of 10 years. The Supreme Committee for the Space Program" will be required to determine the level of importance in entering the field, and main milestones in a long-term plan.
Towards a future era of "violent space". How should Israel prepare for the coming decade
- The issue of the danger of satellites being hit in space by hostile elements was put on the space agenda by countries around the world.
The risk of vulnerability in space refers to threats of physical harm, contractual blinding, communication blockages, signal blocking, in addition to an issue that has been in the headlines since the Star Wars program began, related to the field of space control that combines systems for detecting threat routes - acquisition capability and surveillance-command and control - and systems for neutralizing threats. In this regard, the Supreme Committee for the Space Program will be required to determine the level of importance in entering the field, and the main milestones in the long-term plan.

The representatives of the industries confirmed the existence of the crisis and called on the government to take urgent action to prevent a collapse.

Haim Russo - Senior Commissioner for Technological Excellence at Elbit: "At Elbit, the space activity is negligible, half a percent. It is not obvious that if there was a space industry until today it will continue to be in the future. The thing that bothers us the most is the fact that the circles are small, there is no continuity and there is no clear plan that anyone knows what will happen tomorrow. The founders of a knowledge infrastructure that has not been taught in any university, has been building for 20 years. A year or two years after there is a continuous interruption of activity, people will get up and leave. It will be impossible to rebuild."
Yossi Weiss - VP of the aerospace industry: "A crisis is developing in the Israeli space industry. Since the aerospace industry today is the most dominant factor in the country that deals with space, for us it is not a fraction of a percent but 6-7% of the turnover. When we have a budget problem, it affects the entire aerospace industry. We launched 13 satellites, built 3 ground stations that employ dozens of people 24 hours a day. I was lucky and just a week ago I was in India. I learned that from year to year, India's investment in space increased by 20% and reached a billion dollars, with all their poverty and troubles."
"The space industry in Israel directly employs about a thousand workers and with all the subcontractors they reach 1,500 workers in academia, industry, the passion in the eyes. serves as a leading engine for the development of other technologies. We made a decision at a certain moment to focus on building the satellites and not bother with services. Two companies were established to take advantage of the services marketed in the world. But even there we reach a broken trough. ImageSat has not ordered a satellite since 2004. Neither did the Ministry of Defense order a satellite from the same year or so, and as mentioned, neither did a space company, which ordered a satellite in Russia. The only technological ability that is under development today is facing a halt due to the inability to realize the capabilities of the State of Israel. A 140 billion dollar industry will block us." Weiss concluded.

Director of the Israel Space Agency, Dr. Zvi Kaplan: "One of the functions of the Space Agency is to recommend to the Minister of Science and through him to the government the space policy of the State of Israel in the civilian sphere. When you think about which way to go, you must first see the situation in the unknown. The world is going to be involved in the issue of space at an increasing rate and not the other way around. If this assessment is correct, we will be crying in a few years that we had a basis for entry and penetration, we have resources and capabilities and we are going to lose them."
"Let's take for example the Apollo program that was in the news this week. The plan ended because there was no thinking about the next steps, but led by the USA, the world declared that it sees space as the immediate environment worthy of research and that it has potential for the survival of the earth, as well as for economic resources - clean energy, resource mining, industries. Economies that do not yet exist will arise on the basis of space. There are ups and downs, sometimes they return more to the Earth's environment to protect the planet, but we heard from the new head of NASA that he is committed to the direction of discoveries."
"Science alone does not exist, it is very difficult to support it in a massive way without a pulling engine and the discoveries in space are an engine that pulls science and allows NASA to invest about 7 billion dollars a year in science and the political competition in the world is the bellows that keeps this eagerness to continue the space. Europe solved the problems through the framework of the union, Galileo and ESA programs with many billions and the ambition in East Asia - China, India and also in Europe who have carried out or are talking about a manned space program. There is going to be a great opportunity in the world and if we don't find the way, future generations will ask us where we were and we held the golden egg and didn't take the next step."

Marcel Staun, CEO of ISERD - the body that links Israel to the framework programs of the European Union: "The framework program has a space section budgeted at 1.5 billion euros over the seven years of the program. This amount is also accessible to Israeli parties because we are full partners in the European framework program.. We maintain relations both with the space agency and with Prof. Ashad in an attempt to use these budgets. There is a problem of a culture of cooperation on the part of Europe, the question of space raises many sensitivities that make this cooperation difficult. Mostly they are willing to participate with us in applications but not in R&D. Israeli companies are active both in the European Space Agency and in the Galileo project.