Israel Boosts 11 Space Tech Startups With Nearly $6M Grant

The Israel Space Agency, the Ministry of Innovation, Science, and Technology, and the Israel Innovation Authority (IIA) approved a grant on Thursday that declared NIS 18.5 million ($5.94 million) would be awarded to 11 companies developing innovative space technologies.

Since 2012, 62 R&D projects have already been granted a total of around NIS 160 million ($51.3 million). Approved companies will have between 20 to 50 percent of their R&D costs covered while smaller companies, or those with products designed solely for space, will receive anywhere from 60 to 85 percent, the announcement said.

The program aims to boost the Israeli space tech market and “encourage the use of existing technologies for space, reduce knowledge gaps with regards to what is happening in the global space markets, improve Israeli industry’s competitiveness and increase the Israeli industry’s use of scientific knowledge accrued from space technologies.”

The companies will eventually reimburse IIA for the funding through royalty payments they gain from sales when their product reaches the commercial stage.

The winning companies that were chosen to receive this grant include Eicha communication systems, a company that researches advanced Internet of Things (IoT) communications systems using a satellite; Paxis, a company whose SpaceSiC triennial project deals with developing advanced ceramic materials for the production of complicated 3D bodies and structures from silicon carbide for satellite and space applications; Terra Space Lab, a company working on a space shuttle scanner with a multi-spectral infrared antenna; N.S.L. Communications, which develops antenna technologies to transform the efficiency of communications services; GorillaLink, a company that combines satellite communications for IoT solutions; GreenOnyx, a company that grows fresh superfood on spaceships for astronauts on deep-space missions; Semiconductor Devices (SCD), a company which uses a hyper-spectral space camera to capture the unknown; Space Plasmatics, a company that develops electric ignition systems for microsatellites; NewRocket, a company that creates space ignition systems for launching large satellites; Ramon.Space, a company that develops supercomputer systems that power deep space missions; and Helios, a company that develops tech to produce oxygen and metals from lunar soil.

“The global space industry is going through a real revolution. The market has doubled in size over the past decade and is expected to grow to a trillion dollars in the coming years. The State of Israel has clear advantages in the space industry, but especially in the security domain,” said Orit Farkash-Hacohen, Minister of Innovation, Science and Technology.