Says so says Kafir Demari, one of my founders SpaceIL In an interview with the Aden website, Yariv Bash, who is also one of the founding team, said that he was happy that the space industry and the country as a whole were behind the project
SpaceIL's Moon spacecraft project is primarily intended to encourage youth to study science and engineering. Says Kafir Demari, one of the founders of SpaceIL (the other two are Yariv Bash and Jonathan Weintraub) in an interview with the Hedaan website during the event announcing the landing date of the Israeli spacecraft on the moon - February 13, 2019. The event took place yesterday (Tuesday) at the air industry facilities in Yehud.
"Right from the beginning we understood that we also wanted to do a scientific experiment to land on the moon but also to inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers in Israel." Demari explained.
"We have hundreds of volunteers who work for this purpose, together with the Ministry of Education and other entities. The goal is to reach the students, to explain to them that science and engineering is amazing, it's exciting. You can build spaceships, you can launch things, whether it's to the moon or Mars, wherever they dream. We met Already 750 thousand students and we continue."
"In general, measuring success in education is a challenge. We have in-depth programs and we measure the children's motivation to learn at the beginning of the program and at the end of the program and we really see that there is an improvement. I think what really decided is the statistic of let's see what will be the situation of the engineers and scientists in Israel." Demari explained referring to the constant lack of engineers for the high-tech industry, a topic that has been in the headlines for many years, and despite efforts to increase the number of graduates in technological professions, there is still a lack of potential workers and many, like Demari, see the education system as the vulnerable link. Investing in education from elementary to high school, will make it possible to bring many candidates to higher studies in the field and then to industry.
"We all know the problem personally, whether in recruiting for the army or if it's recruiting in industry, there is a lack of engineers, and we hope that it's not just us who worry about it, and that there are other factors involved in it, and I hope that together more students will choose science over engineering. We showed them how much science and technology are behind Building the spaceship."
Do you apply to certain sectors?
We actually address all sectors. We wanted in Hebrew but also in Arabic and English. For example, regarding Arabic, the association has a Druze volunteer who established a center in the sector and tells all the students about SPACEIL. This program is important to anyone who is concerned about the lack of engineers. As mentioned, we reached hundreds of thousands of students and we continue the educational project, the spacecraft will be launched, the educational project will continue. How, we don't know at the moment.
"An entire country behind us"
Yariv Bash, one of the founders of SpaceIL, briefly described the history of the project: "When we started as Kafir Jonathan and I, and we put the plans on paper, the spacecraft was much smaller and much cheaper. Since then things have changed. This project grew, we understood what space is, then we didn't know, today We already know, with the help of the aviation industry people."
"It's quite amazing to see how from the idea of three young people, that an entire industry and finally an entire country mobilizes to make it happen. What you see here behind you, next year will already be on the moon. This is an achievement that to date only three superpowers have been able to do. The club of the superpowers that have succeeded Landing a spacecraft on the moon is the most limited club in the world. Of the ten countries that tried - the majority ended up in craters."
More of the topic in Hayadan:
- The Israeli spacecraft to the moon will land on February 13, 2019 (10 / 7 / 2018)
- SpaceIL: "Continuing the construction of the spacecraft to the moon and planning for a routine in 2018" (2016)
- SpaceIL signed with SpaceX to launch the spacecraft to the moon in about two years (news from 2015)
- Revealing initial details about the journey to the moon and SpaceIL's unique technologies (news from 2013)
