Making Space Accessible to Israeli Entrepreneurs: This Week in Space

The Israel Space Agency (ISA), under the Ministry of Innovation, Science and Technology, together with the Israel Innovation Authority, have issued a call for proposals to establish a national R&D laboratory that will provide Israeli technologies with access to space missions. The entity selected to set up the center will be expected to assist Israeli companies and research institutions in launching experiments or space-bound technologies under development into space at significantly reduced costs compared to current market rates. Under the plan, the laboratory is expected to serve as a launch platform for at least 15 Israeli components during its three-year operational period within this framework.

The state has allocated 40 million NIS for the initiative, with funding drawn from the budgets of the Israel Space Agency, the Directorate of Defense Research & Development (DDR&D or its Hebrew acronym MAFAT) at the Ministry of Defense, the Israel Innovation Authority, and the Planning and Budgeting Committee (PBC) of the Council for Higher Education.

“The idea is to make space accessible to entrepreneurs who want to develop space technologies. One of the most difficult steps for entrepreneurs in this field is proving that their development has actually been tested in space and can operate there,” explained Uri Oron, Director of the Israel Space Agency, to the Davidson Institute website. “Such entrepreneurs will be able to approach the organization that wins the tender and gain access to space at a 35% discount compared to the market price for launch, along with additional services such as assistance with integrating their component or technology into another space mission, or handling control procedures.”

According to Oron, the organization chosen in the tender should be able to create the necessary connections between entrepreneurs, developers, or researchers who wish to send their work into space, and private companies, space agencies, or other entities conducting space missions. “In principle, the Space Agency also does such things, but I want to move them out of the slow and cumbersome government sphere, and instead work with an entity that can create these connections more effectively, efficiently, flexibly, and quickly,” he said.

The new tender is intended to replace a previous program to establish a small satellite center in Israel, which was ultimately canceled. “We thought it would become a white elephant that would not address the market failures preventing Israeli entrepreneurs from advancing in the space sector,” said Oron. “The new solution was approved after an economic review of various alternatives, and we want it to inject energy into the Israeli space ecosystem.”

The initiative received approval in June from the National Infrastructure Forum (TALM) and officially launched last week. Proposals for the call can be submitted until September 17, and an online seminar for candidates was held on Sunday, August 10. The tender is also open to international bodies, provided they have an Israeli partner. Oron hopes that the winners will be selected by the end of the year, and that from 2026, Israeli technologies will be flying into space through this new framework.

Waiting at the Station

Has NASA changed its policy regarding funding astronaut activity aboard private space stations after the planned retirement of the International Space Station (ISS)? According to a memo signed by U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, who is currently serving as Acting NASA Administrator, it appears so.

The aging ISS is expected to retire in 2030, after which most space station operations will shift to private operators.  As a future customer, NASA is helping fund the design and development of these stations and will oversee safety certification for those it plans to use. The agency has a signed agreement with Axiom, which won a contract to build a station that can initially operate using ISS infrastructure. NASA has also provided funding to Blue Origin and the Starlab partnership to develop their own private station projects, while advising several other companies without offering financial support.

NASA had planned to maintain a continuous astronaut presence on private space stations, but an apparent shift in funding policy suggests a change in that approach. Previously, to receive operational approval, private stations were required to support six months of continuous activity by four crew members—two from NASA. The requirement has now been reduced to one continuous month, and if that becomes the standard mission duration, there will likely be gaps between missions with no NASA astronauts in space.

NASA’s apparent policy shift may be driven in part by a desire to reduce financial risk and spread its investment across privately operated stations. However, the agency has not formally announced any policy changes, and the memo in question has not been made public—it was only reported in the press.

Planetary Complexity

The question of how life began on Earth—and possibly on other worlds—remains open.In recent years, however, evidence has been mounting that relatively complex molecules, from which the building blocks of life as we know it—such as proteins and DNA—are formed, likely also exist in space. In a new study led by scientists from Germany, researchers have, for the first time, found evidence of such molecules in a planet-forming disk surrounding a young sun still in the process of formation.

The research focused on the protostar V883 Orionis, located about 1,300 light-years away. This young star has not yet completed its development and is still accreting material from its surroundings. The residual material in the surrounding disk is expected to eventually form planets, asteroids, and comets. Because the processes of star formation are accompanied by violent energetic events, scientists had long assumed that complex molecules would be destroyed during these stages. For conditions conducive to the emergence of life—at least in terms of available raw materials—such molecules would need to be re-formed at a later stage.

“Now it appears the opposite is true,” said Kamber Schwarz of the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy in Heidelberg, a co-author of the study. “Our results suggest that protoplanetary discs inherit complex molecules from earlier stages, and the formation of complex molecules can continue during the protoplanetary disc stage.”

The researchers used the ALMA radio telescope in Chile to detect no fewer than 17 types of such molecules, including ethylene glycol (CH2OH)2(CH₂OH)₂(CH2​OH)2​ and glycolonitrile (HOCH2CN)(HOCH₂CN)(HOCH2​CN)—a precursor for the production of certain amino acids, the building blocks of proteins. The discovery was made using spectrometers, which analyze the wavelength composition of radiation from the target and identify the chemical signatures of specific substances based on the wavelengths they absorb or emit.

The researchers believe that the chemical reactions producing these molecules occur on the surfaces of ice crystals, with a significant portion remaining trapped in the ice of planets, comets, or asteroids. As the young star begins to emit radiation, some of this ice sublimates, releasing its contents into space—where astronomers can detect them.

Earlier this year, numerous molecules regarded as building blocks of life were identified in samples collected from the asteroid Bennu in our own solar system. This new discovery points to similar processes occurring in a distant star system, suggesting that the existence of life—or at least the chemical ingredients that gave rise to life on Earth—may be a far more universal phenomenon.

Staying on Earth – Astronaut Barry Wilmore Retires from NASA

American astronaut Barry “Butch” Wilmore has announced his retirement from NASA after 25 years as an astronaut, during which he completed three spaceflights.  Wilmore, 62, served as a fighter and test pilot in the U.S. Navy before joining NASA in 2000. He first flew to space in 2009 as pilot of the space shuttle Atlantis on a mission to the International Space Station, and returned in 2014 for a long-duration stay—this time aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft.

In June 2024, Wilmore launched with Sunita Williams on the test flight of Boeing’s new crew spacecraft, Starliner. Malfunctions discovered after launch led NASA to decide against returning the astronauts in the vehicle.  Instead, they were integrated into the ISS crew, and what was planned as an eight-day mission turned into a nine-month stay. The pair returned to Earth in March of this year.

Despite flying to space only three times, Wilmore is among a select group of astronauts to have flown aboard four different spacecraft: the space shuttle, Soyuz, SpaceX’s Dragon, and Boeing’s Starliner. In total, he has logged 464 days in space and 32 hours of spacewalks—extravehicular activity outside the station.

“From my earliest days, I have been captivated by the marvels of creation, looking upward with an insatiable curiosity. This curiosity propelled me into the skies, and eventually to space, where the magnificence of the cosmos mirrored the glory of its creator in ways words can scarcely convey,” Wilmore said.

His statement did not reveal the reasons for his retirement or his future plans. However, many veteran astronauts remain active in the space sector, often taking roles in private aerospace companies.