The Israel Space Agency (ISA) has positioned itself as one of the leading nations in earth observation 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. Israel is now one of the few countries able to both manufacture satellites and place them in orbit with its own launch vehicle.
The highlight of the current space ISA activities is the VENUS mission, a scientific and technologicial programme with CNES of France. VENUS is an ambitious R&D plan aimed at the positioning both countries at the high end of environmental research, both in Europe and globally.
Dr Kaplan will provide a rare opportunity for a UK audience to be briefed authoritatively on Israel's impressive range of space activities.
The Space Group usually organises four or five evening lectures a year. The annual programme is diverse owing to the multi-disciplinary nature of the space activities represented. An archive containing further details of lectures and conferences over the past seven years is available here. However, the two most recent lectures were:
The cornerstone of this plan is our heavy-lift Ariane 5, whose record of mission successes demonstrates its reliability and in 2010, Arianespace is to take the next step with our introduction of the medium-lift Soyuz and the lightweight Vega at the Spaceport in French Guiana, which will enable us to launch satellites that until now were orbited by our competitors.
In our industry, we all know that the very best business plan is only as good as the next mission. As we prepare to build on our 30 years of success, the guarantee of our service is foremost in our strategy.
For full details click here..
The Hubble Space Telescope is the most iconic satellite ever built. Since its launch in 1990, it has opened up new windows on the distant universe, as well as providing unprecedented close-upson astronomical objects from the planets and moons of our solar system to the stars and nebulae of the galaxy.
The James Webb Space Telescope will replace Hubble as the most powerful space telescope whenlaunched by Ariane in 2014. With a mirror nearly 3 times the diameter of Hubble’s it will see further and farther back in time than ever before – and is optimized to examine objects with the large redshifts associated with the most distant objects in the universe.
For full details click here..
Other events of the recent past include:
The role of satellites in the International Polar Year Dr David Carlson described how satellites make a unique contribution to this UN-sponsored global scientific initiative.
Europe's weather satellites The Director General of EUMETSAT Dr Lars Prahm, and his Programme Director Dr Ernst Koenemann explained Europe's contribution to the world-wide satellite fleet that monitors the planet's weather.
Skynet 5, Britain's new military space system Astrium Programme Director Patrick Wood described the new satellites providing telecommunications services to UK military forces around the world.
Fifty years in Space (jointly with the Historical Group) On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the launch of Sputnik-1 Dr Chris Welch helped us re-live the dawn of the space age.
The Virgin Galactic experience (jointly with the Aviation Medicine Group) Alex Tai described the exciting space tourism prospects on offer from this Anglo-American venture.
