Israel punches above its weight in space science and exploration.
The Shavit series of rockets was developed by the country and has lofted a number of satellites over the years. Israel's Beresheet mission tried to put a robotic lander down on the moon, which was almost succeeded.
Not bad for a nation of 9 million people, which is only slightly bigger than the U.S. state of New Jersey.
There are pictures of Israel's 1st moon lander Beresheet.
Israel wants to become a bigger player in the final frontier. The Beresheet 2 lunar mission will likely consist of an orbiter and two landers, and will likely be launched in 2024 or thereabouts. SpaceIL is an Israeli nonprofit organization that will lead Beresheet 2.
The director general of the Israel Space Agency said that the country wants to help accelerate the New Space revolution, an opening of the off-Earth economy via commercial space activities and public-private partnerships.
The first-ever all-private crewed mission to the International Space Station was launched on April 8. Houston-based company Axiom Space organized the 10-day-long Ax-1. The crew consists of a former NASA Astronaut, a current employee, and three paying customers.
American, Canadian, and Israeli are the names of the three people. He is the second Israeli to reach space, after Ilan Ramon, who died in the 2003 space shuttle Columbia disaster.
Ramon and Oron were friends with both of them. The director general of Israel spoke to Space.com about his country's ambitions in the final frontier. The following conversation has been edited.
What do you think about the Ax-1? The mission is important.
They are on the International Space Station, a space station that was built by countries, and they are going to execute experiments and actions from scientific, academic, as well as educational institutes. The story of New Space is the combination of private to public, with government, and education. That is the story of New Space. First of all, I think it is fascinating.
We are very lucky to have an Israeli player in the first group. I think it is fascinating. It is very important to us.
There is even more meaning here, because the first Israeliastronomer didn't survive the trip home after launching on the space shuttle Columbia in 2003 Can you talk about the connection between Eytan and Ilan Ramon?
Eytan and Ilan were friends. They were fighter pilots. I knew both of them, Ilan and Eytan, and I still know them very well.
They were friends. It is an interesting part of the story, but it is not the whole story. It does not change the whole story, I think it is bringing a lot of emotions. It shouldn't distract us from the changes around us.
The Israeli moon lander team draws inspiration from Ilan Ramon.
It adds another layer of meaning and interest. What do you think is the main story here?
It is another example of the huge change that all of us are dealing with. Private people, private organizations are not just governments and countries. This is what it is all about. It is much easier to access space. There is access to space for everyone. Everyone is welcome in the space. The story of Ax-1 is an example of that. It is not the only one.
It is not the first all-private mission to Earth, we saw that just a few months ago with the Inspiration4 mission. We are already seeing these things happen, and that is where the Ax-1 comes in.
Oron: We will see more and more. You can see the line between what we used to call space tourism and private missions. It will go further. Private people, private organizations, private entities are taking part in this emerging world because of the Polaris missions. This is how we need to move forward.
I think we are in the beginning. I can see similarities between the time we are facing and the beginning of the internet. The infrastructure of a new economy is what we see right now. It is just the foundation right now. We don't know what the future will bring, we didn't know about the companies during the 90's We don't know what will be in space 10 years from now. We know that the foundation, infrastructure, and private people are part of it. It is obvious. We need to be a part of it. That is why it is important to Israel.
According to Space.com, Axiom Space wants to build a space station in low Earth orbit. They plan to be an anchor for commercial space activities and all the things that follow on from that. You can either go up there for a vacation or have manufacturing on the private station. There are a lot of things that could happen.
I agree with Oron. This is the future.
How do you see Israel fitting into the future? You want to be a bigger player in space? How do you see yourself getting on this train and using some of the activities?
Israel has a unique legacy in space. Israel was the eighth country to plan, build, launch and operate satellites. Israel was the fourth country to put a vehicle on the moon. We experienced a hard landing. It was the first private entity to do that.
We have a legacy. Combine that with the legacy, and even the culture, of the Israeli innovation ecosystem, and you will see that there are already proven capabilities in other areas such as cyber, artificial intelligence, and quantum computing. I believe that space will be a lever for the economic growth of Israel and that it will be able to strengthen Israeli capabilities.
It will strengthen science, technology, education, international status, and all of it is connected to what we can do in space. The good news is that we have the ingredients. We have the ingredients to become a very relevant nation in the field of New Space, but we need to combine them.
How do you connect those pieces? Is the private sector able to get everything bound up in one package?
It is an interesting game because you can see that space is still difficult. The big players still play space. You still need the government to help. There is a sort of triangle between investors, entrepreneurs and the government to help solve regulation problems and push it forward. It will not work in Israel without those three different points.
We need to connect those three dots in Israel. My role at the Israel Space Agency is to look at the big picture and connect the dots, helping connect the entrepreneurs and the investors and not to disturb as a government, but to enable them to move forward.
It is difficult to build an infrastructure. Sometimes it is even riskier. The government should go here. I need to enable them to flourish, I am not going to build those startups.
Space.com asked if there were any examples from other nations or sectors that you could look to for guidance on how to make this happen.
Oron is looking at the UK. I think it is an interesting example. Australia has a relatively young space agency and they don't have the legacy of more than 40 years like Israel. The UK realized the potential of the public sector in space about a decade ago.
Space.com asked if you mentioned Beresheet. Beresheet 2 is coming up in the near future, so I wanted to ask about it. How important is the Beresheet 2 mission for Israel?
It is very important. Beresheet 2 is on track. The launch timelines are around the end of 24 or 25.
It will be a huge effort. The plan is to send landers to two different spots on the moon for the first time. The mission is similar to the first Beresheet. The other is to be a scientific program. The payloads will aim in that direction.
Imagine the two landers landing on the moon and sending their data back to the earth for about two or three years. The data will be sent to Mother Earth to be used in educational programs around the world because the landers don't have enough energy to be relevant that long. That is the basic idea.
It is very exciting. We feel we can do it despite the huge effort. The government of Israel believes it has a role. It is important to us, but not our responsibility.
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NASA astronauts are going to be launching on a mission around the moon and then on to a lunar landing in the 20th century. Private companies will hopefully be able to land on the moon. Israel can be part of that larger effort to explore the moon.
Oron: Absolutely. We see it that way. One of the fascinating things about space is that it is a growth engine for many things. Science, education, and economics are not the only ones. The effect of space on the whole society is something that is worthwhile investing in for countries.
Space.com saw that with all of the excitement around Beresheet 1. Everyone was gathered around TVs and computer screens to watch the updates about the landing. If you have a big space success, it can change the way young people think about science and technology. They can see themselves working in those industries.
That is the basic idea. That is the idea behind Beresheet 2. You don't give up when you have big goals and big challenges. The failure of Beresheet 1 was a really hard landing. We learned a lot along the way. It is just another milestone towards the goal, that is the way we see it.
Mike Wall is the author of Out There, a book about the search for alien life. You can follow him on social media. Follow us on social media.
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