Kesher Talk

Good news from Israel: Taking their fast-growing ties a step further, India and Israel signed a statement on co-operation in science and technology on December 23. Following talks between minister of state for science and technology Bachi Singh Rawat and his Israeli counterpart Eleizer Sandberg, several areas of co-operation were identified, including joint development and upgradation of science and technology projects as well as joint projects in space.

The two parties also signed a

memorandum of understanding (MoU) on the Tauvex project.

The Tauvex is a set of three wide-field telescopes that will image the ultraviolet (UV) sky on an Indian satellite, the GSAT-4. The specific objective of the mission is to collate data on the universe through UV, not available with other kinds of satellites such as the Hubble, and offers a unique opportunity to put Indian and Israeli scientists in the forefront of space-astrophysics.

The Tauvex-GSAT project was initiated two years ago after the original project, an international programme based on a Russian scientific satellite (Spectrum Roentgen Gamma) fell through. After meeting with Indian scientists in Vienna two years ago and discovering that they had common interests, the decision for space collaboration was formalised during Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s visit to India in September.

Out of a total budget of $40 million for the Tauvex project, Israel has invested around $4 million to change the interface of the satellite to make it compatible with Indian technology; it will be ready for launch in 18 months.

posted by William @ 1/21/2004 08:34:00 AM