Zvika Kaplan, Director General, ISA
This year the global space community is celebrating over 50 years' anniversary of the "Space Era." ("Sputnik 1, "the first artificial satellite, was launched on October 4 1957).In the first part of my lecture, I shall address the present relevancy of space sciences and technologies, and their contributions to our daily life from the economic, political and quality aspects.
Two questions will be discussed: "Why and How." Why space missions were highly successful in attracting the massive resources of qualified manpower, and in creating advanced physical infrastructures? What was the mechanism that enabled its feasibility?
Although the State of Israel started its space activities relatively late, only less than three decades ago, its program presents a unique and original approach. Therefore, Israel was able to position itself as one of the leading nations in the very important niche, of earth observations from space. These achievements are becoming highly relevant today, and are allowing Israel to use its capabilities to develop friendly relationships worldwide, by forming joint collaborative bilateral space programs.
The vision of the ISA- Israel Space Agency is to develop space technologies, to utilize them as a lever in its international activities, and to assist the Israeli space industries in their commercialization. The highlight of the current space ISA activities is the "VENμS Mission" - a scientific and technological joint program with CNES –Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales of France. VENμS - Vegetation and Environment New Micro-Satellite is an ambitious Research and Development plan, aimed at positioning both countries at the high-end of the environmental research both in Europe and globally.
In that context, Israel Space Agency-ISA is in the process of initiating and establishing additional bilateral collaborations, aiming to implement advanced technologies of earth observation from space, and exploration of the solar system, briefly described.
This presentation's conclusion is by sharing the lecturer’s views of the current and future trends in space development, as anticipated in the near future.
ההרצאה תתקיים ביום שני 8.3.2010
ש ע ה 13:30
Seminar Room, Asher Space Research Institute
כבוד קל יוגש לפני ההרצאה
