As part of an educational program funded by Israel’s Ministry of Innovation, Science and Technology, students from seven towns in Israel’s periphery will develop and build a flotilla of nanosatellites to be launched into space end of 2024, has reported the site of the French Association of the University of Tel Aviv.
The launch event of the program took place at Tel Aviv University, in the presence of the Minister of Innovation, Science and Technology, MP Ofir Akunis, and with the participation of the Director General of the Ministry , Gadi Arieli, and the Director of the Israeli Space Agency, Reserve Brigadier General Uri Oron. The event brought together around 400 students from the seven municipalities participating in the project, who were welcomed by the Rector of the University and by the Dean of the Faculty of Engineering. The guest of honor and keynote speaker at the event was NASA Deputy Director Robert (Bob) Cabana, a former US Air Fleet experimental pilot, space shuttle pilot, and director of the world’s largest space center. , Kennedy Space Center.
The project carried out with high school students will be led by Meir Ariel, director of the Tel Aviv University Nanosatellite Center and will involve students and researchers from the Faculties of Engineering and Exact Sciences, both for scientific research and for engineering development.
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His university recently won a tender launched for this purpose by the ministry, which invested nearly 9 million shekels in the project. The satellites will be equipped with a detection laboratory provided by the Soreq nuclear research center and will be used for research in the fields of space weather forecasting and cosmic radiation.
In order to carry out the project, Tel Aviv University will establish R&D centers and “clean rooms” in schools where students will build these satellites, scattered throughout the country.
The university center has already launched three scientific nanosatellites into space in recent years.
A 20 cm nanosatellite developed by Tel Aviv University. (Credit: Tel Aviv University)
“The launch of the Tevel 2 program is proof of the huge success of the project we started about three years ago,” said MP Ofir Akunis, Minister of Innovation, Science and Technology. “I believed in this project as soon as it was presented to me almost three years ago, and I ordered its launch, so that it included the maximum number of high school students. As Minister of Innovation, Science and Technology, I am committed to continuing to make science accessible to all citizens of Israel, with an emphasis on human capital in general and the future generation in particular. »
“Space engineering projects combine many and varied areas of scientific knowledge,” explained Professor Meir Ariel. “Therefore, students who participate in it should not only deepen their knowledge, but also be creative and determined, and cooperate with their colleagues in multi-team research and development work. As part of this project, for the first time, high school students from across the country and from all sectors of public education, Jewish, Arab and Druze, including students from religious schools for girls, will work together with teachers , students and researchers at Tel Aviv University for a common purpose that is greater than the sum of its parts: launching a flotilla of satellites into space. »
