The first Israeli space telescope launched by NASA

This Tuesday (21), NASA issued a statement announcing the launch of Israel’s first space telescope, the Transient ultraviolet astronomy satellite (ULTRASAT), a wide-field ultraviolet observatory designed to investigate short-lived events in the universe, such as supernova explosions and neutron star mergers.

Led by the Israel Space Agency and the Weizmann Institute of Science, ULTRASAT is expected to be launched into geostationary orbit around the Earth in early 2026. In addition to providing launch service, NASA revealed that it will also participate in the mission’s science program.

We are proud to join this partnership, an international effort that will help us better understand the mysteries of the hot, transient universe.

Mark Clampin, director of the Astrophysics Division at NASA Headquarters in Washington.

ULTRASAT’s wide field of view should allow it to rapidly detect and capture ultraviolet light from sources in the universe that change over short timescales.

The researchers will combine ULTRASAT observations of these short-term events with information from a variety of other missions, including those studying gravitational waves and particles – an area known as time domain and multimessenger astronomy.

According to NASA, the results of this combination will shed light on how various cosmic mechanisms work, from black holes and gravitational wave sources to supernovae and active galaxies.

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“This is a pioneering project that puts Israel at the forefront of global research,” said Eli Waxman, an astrophysicist at the Weizmann Institute of Science and principal investigator for ULTRASAT. “Leading international bodies such as NASA and the DESY Research Institute (Germany for Electron Synchrotron Germany) have joined this Israeli-led project as partners, after realizing its scientific importance.”

According to Waxman, these partners invest significant resources in building and launching the satellite to become active participants in this mission with access to its science products. “It’s a science-driven partnership.”

According to the agreement between NASA and the Israel Space Agency, the US agency will provide the launch opportunity, flight payload converter, and other responsibilities related to the ULTRASAT launch.

The entire observatory will be delivered by Israel to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida for launch.

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