Sam Fraser
07-19-2010, 11:36 AM
Israel plans to invest $77.5 million over five years to jump-start a space program that officials say could become a $10 billion civilian space industry.
http://www.space-travel.com/reports/Israel_to_launch_civlian_space_program_999.html
$77.5m over five years seems pitiful. Then again, Israel has a well-developed aerospace and high-technology sector and already develops and launches its own satellites:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israel_Space_Agency
Maybe this extra investment would be enough for the Israeli space program to hit critical mass.
This move makes Israel the smallest "official" space power yet:
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/fields/2195.html
(GDP, 2009 est.)
1. US - $14,430b
2. Japan - $5,108b
3. China - $4,814b
4. France* - $2,666b
5. Brazil - $1,499b
6. Russia - $1,232b
7. India - $1,095b
8. Israel - $194b
*Yes, I've included France since ArianeSpace is really a French national prestige project and government program, not a purely private commercial company. ESA is mostly French-driven as well.
The question is why aren't other trillion-dollar economies like Australia or Mexico doing this? I expect a lot of the smaller countries will go for the Bigelow lease option. Interestingly, the UK recently launched a "muscular" civilian space agency:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8579270.stm
With both the UK and Australia aerospace sectors in mind, I'm surprised both countries don't collaborate on developing their own launch ability e.g. AUSROC:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_Space_Research_Institute#Launch_vehicle _development
http://www.space-travel.com/reports/Israel_to_launch_civlian_space_program_999.html
$77.5m over five years seems pitiful. Then again, Israel has a well-developed aerospace and high-technology sector and already develops and launches its own satellites:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israel_Space_Agency
Maybe this extra investment would be enough for the Israeli space program to hit critical mass.
This move makes Israel the smallest "official" space power yet:
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/fields/2195.html
(GDP, 2009 est.)
1. US - $14,430b
2. Japan - $5,108b
3. China - $4,814b
4. France* - $2,666b
5. Brazil - $1,499b
6. Russia - $1,232b
7. India - $1,095b
8. Israel - $194b
*Yes, I've included France since ArianeSpace is really a French national prestige project and government program, not a purely private commercial company. ESA is mostly French-driven as well.
The question is why aren't other trillion-dollar economies like Australia or Mexico doing this? I expect a lot of the smaller countries will go for the Bigelow lease option. Interestingly, the UK recently launched a "muscular" civilian space agency:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8579270.stm
With both the UK and Australia aerospace sectors in mind, I'm surprised both countries don't collaborate on developing their own launch ability e.g. AUSROC:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_Space_Research_Institute#Launch_vehicle _development