Par David Rosenfeld
Rubrique: Aéronautique
Les israéliens pénètrent le marché des mini-satellites estimé à plusieurs centaines de millions de $ par an.
L’initiative lancée en 2004 par l’Israeli Nano Satellite Association (INSA) semble porter ses fruits. Vous me direz peut-être l’appellation “nano” est ici exagérée. Et bien pas tout à fait.
L’INSA s’apprête à étudier la mise en place d’essaims de mini-satellites de quelques kilogrammes de charge. 3 mini-satellites de 5 kilos ont déjà été construits et le premier lancement dans l’espace est prévu pour la fin 2008 à partir d’un satellite russe Dniepr.
La première application de ces mini-satellites sera de créer des réseaux de communication en grappe.
La seconde application sera scientifiquement plus importante. Les mini-satellites se transformeront en mini-laboratoires d’expérimentation pour tester les équipements spatiaux … dans leur milieu naturel : l’espace. En effet, les tests des équipements spatiaux sont actuellement réalisés sur Terre où les conditions diffèrent grandement des conditions dans l’espace.-
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Israel to become international lab for space equipment
Israeli space scientists developing tiny satellites are about to enter field worth hundreds of millions of dollars a year
Aryeh Egozi Published: 06.04.07, 09:43 / Israel Money
A group of Israeli scientists is about to turn Israel into an international “laboratory” for equipment slated to be sent to space. This market is evaluated at some hundreds of millions of dollars a year.
The global space industry is following with interest the tiny satellite project of a group of young Israeli space scientists.
The group’s activity began in 2004. Its members, who work in the Israeli defense industries and in key research bodies, established the Israeli Nano Satellite Association.
These days the association members are building three tiny satellites, each weighing only 5 kilograms (11 pounds). One will be used to examine navigation systems like the GPS, which will be based on a “swarm” of tiny satellites.
The other two satellites will be used as space laboratories for the examination of space equipment. Today equipment installed in satellites is being examined in special laboratories on earth, but these conditions are not similar to the ones in space.
The group members plan to turn this solution into a business: Space equipment manufacturers will deliver the equipment to a business organization which will be established in Israel. The organization will launch the equipment to space through nano-satellites, and there they will be examined in real-life conditions before they are installed in satellites worth tens and even hundreds of millions of dollars.
The first nano-satellites will be launched to space at the end of 2008 through a Russian Dnepr satellite, which can enter a large number of such tiny satellites into space.
Source: Israel Valley & Yediot Aharonot
