The history of Israel in space is short but remarkable. It started in 1988 with the launch of Ofeq 1 by the Shavit launcher, affiliating Israel to the very exclusive club of 7 countries who launched a self developed satellite with their own made launcher.

Geographical constrains, as well as safety considerations caused the Israeli space program to focus on very small satellites, loaded with payloads of a very high degree of sophistication. 
Currently, we are observing the third generation of satellites with very high performances in small platforms.

In addition to panchromatic satellites for earth observation and picture downloading, a new satellite is currently being developed in the radar regime. The satellite will have a SAR payload, which is capable of taking images at all weather conditions. This new satellite is a proof of the viability and the innovative character of the Israeli Space Industry. 

The vision of the Israeli Space Agency ISA stems from the understanding that Israel could be more active in the civilian arena by promoting some innovative scientific projects based on international collaboration.

Amongst the leading project of ISA is the renewal of the Israeli projects of the UV telescope – the TAUVEX (Tel Aviv University Ultra Violet Experiment). A UV telescope for astronomical observations which had been developed in the nineties would be accommodated on the Indian Geo-Synchronous satellite G Sat-4 and would be jointly operated and utilized by Indian and Israeli scientists.

The partners for this project are:

·             The Israeli ministry of Science and Technology and ISA

·             The Indian Space Research Organization ISRO,

·             The Tel Aviv University 

·             The Electrio-Optical Israeli Industry EL-OP – Elbit Ltd.

·             The Indian Institute for Astronomy in Mumbai

Recently, a new international collaboration was coming to age and a new project was born. ISA and CNES of France reached an agreement to jointly work on a new project of a design and a construction of an innovative micro-satellite and a ground station for scientific purposes.

The micro-satellite would incorporated two payloads: an innovative scientific payload comprised of a multi-spectral camera for earth observations and a ground station for imaging processes.
The second payload would be a technological aiming at demonstrating an electrical propulsion thrust system and to examine its maneuverability potential.