Israel’s Ben-Gurion University is branching into space! The United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) has chosen to partner with the university’s Earth and Planetary Image Facility to develop a crisis management center in Israel. Ynetnews reported that “the Regional Support Office for Disaster Management and Emergency Response collects data from space, working alongside experts from other UNOOSA partner countries in order to reduce risks and emergency situations worldwide.” The lab will become the 25th center to join NASA by acting as a regional NASA lab for planetary imaging and using its exceptional developments in satellite technology.
We have so many weighty issues dominating the headlines in recent days that it’s easy to forget about exciting developments like scientific advancements. Israel is renowned for its innovation and technology. The Bloomberg Innovation Index ranked Israel as the world’s fifth most innovative country in 2019, while a 2018 report by Startup Genome declared that Tel Aviv has the highest number of startups per capita in the world (jewishvirtuallibrary.org). While not shocking, this designation of Ben-Gurion University’s facility as a partner of NASA is exciting and a well-deserved bit of recognition of the nation that is among the greatest reasons our world’s technology advances as quickly as it does.
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