14 DAY TRIAL // Officials from Russia and Israel have just signed a milestone agreement, concerning the cooperation between the two countries in space-related matters. There are no military provisions in the new document, representatives from both parties involved announced.
The Russian Federation was represented by officials from the Russia Federal Space Agency (RosCosmos). They signed the agreement with representatives of the Israeli government.
The document also lists the major areas in which the two countries will cooperate. These include exploration and research, remote sensing of Earth from space, and materials science.
Other areas of interest for both parties are space medicine and biological studies, as well as the development of satellite navigation technologies. Both parties are also interested in launch services and related technologies, so they will cooperate in this regard as well.
Israel has over the years engaged in a campaign to create connections with the most relevant space agencies in the world, including the US NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA), representing the European Union.
Thus far, the Israeli government has only cooperated with RosCosmos in the development of high-tech hardware. On the other side of the fence, Russia showed interest in acquiring unmanned security drones produced by Israel, Universe Today reports.
“The trend of international cooperation and unification of forces for action in space is more and more dominant and there are now several major multinational projects like the space station, handling problems and global warming climate research, spacecraft operation […] physics and solar system exploration,” explained Dr. Zvi Kaplan.
“We thank all of the organizations that were active in achieving the agreement, including the Foreign Ministry and the Ministry of Justice,” added at the ceremony the official, who is the head of the Israeli Space Agency (ISA).
Head of Roscosmos Anatoly Perminov and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu were among the most important figures present as the agreement was signed. Israeli Minister of Science and Technology professor Daniel Hershkowitz and Russian Ambassador Peter Stganye also participated.
“The road was indeed was short, but the desire to work together existed, and last year the two sides accelerated the pace, because of the desire to get started,” explained the Director General of the Ministry of Science and Technology, Menachem Grinblum.
“We expect the agreement will be translated into joint action research institutions and industries in both countries,” the official concluded.