Uri Oron on stage at the conference

“The only way Israel will reach places in space is by doing things together”

Director General of the Israel Space Agency Uri Oron is urging Israel to partake in a global corporation if it wants to achieve success in the sector. 

“You cannot develop anything in space without partnerships. It's not because space is hard,” said Director General of the Israel Space Agency Uri Oron. “And yes, space is still hard and space is still difficult. Although the cost of launching is going down, this is an area that without cooperation, you will find yourself basically reaching nowhere.”
Oron is urging Israel’s best space companies - both in the private and government sectors - to seek collaborative partnerships with other agencies or companies to boost their presence in the global space ecosystem. “It's not only between governments. The role of partnerships is crucial because, without it, we find ourselves wasting a lot of effort, a lot of time, a lot of money, and reaching nowhere.”
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Uri Oron Space Conference
Uri Oron Space Conference
Uri Oron on stage at the conference
(Photo: James Spiro/CTech)
Israel has somewhat of an impressive space ecosystem given its modest size and age. The Israel Space Agency – under the Ministry of Innovation, Science and Technology – works towards the objective of supporting the civilian space industry and encouraging its growth through projects for the promotion of the research and development of technologies, components, systems, and subsystems.
In 2022, it announced it would assign NIS 600 million ($166 million) over five years to support new companies developing technologies for space. Deloitte has estimated that there are roughly 105 spacetech companies in Startup Nation, on its way to a goal of 120 and hoping to quadruple the number of people employed in the space industry from 2,500 to 10,000.
An example of this collaboration can be seen this week alone, as the ISA signed a memorandum of understanding with the Italian Space Agency for collaboration on Space IL’s Beresheet 2 mission. The joint budget is expected to be more than €10 million ($10.4 million) and will include two landings on the moon including mapping, soil exploration, and the physical exploration of its environment. The news was announced at the 20th Ilan Ramon International Space Conference where Oron shared the stage with Italian Space Agency President Teodoro Valente, Executive Director at IAF Christian Feichtinger, and Nili Shalev, CEO at Israel Export and International Cooperation Institute for a panel on “Innovation, Collaboration, and Challenges in National Space Programs”.
The conference, held in Tel Aviv, celebrated the Israeli spacetech industry and its position in the global industry. Key topics included remote sensing, dual-use, and satellite communication, and was also host to another announcement calling for entries for Creation-Space, an accelerator program held this coming April for spacetech companies at the early stage. It is designed to act as a global innovation hub accelerating space and Earth technologies that advance sustainable human presence in space while also improving life on Earth.
It will last four months and companies taking part will receive $250,000 staggered across different milestones as they grow and seek partnerships with agencies and companies around the world.
“The only way to reach places in space is by doing things together,” added Oron. “And it's not only from a diplomatic point of view, it's from a science point of view… there are not too many people who understand how to use space. So you want to collaborate with, for example, the Italian Space Agency to discover new areas. If you try to do it by yourself, you probably reach nowhere. The only way to move forward is by doing things together.”