The government wants the new satellite to be built by the Israeli industry to preserve the unique knowledge acquired for decades.
The security and defense cabinet decided yesterday that Israel’s Aerospace Industry (IAI) build the Amos 8 satellite to help the government support its space industry.
Last year, the decision was made to produce and develop the Amos 8 satellite at the IAI’s ground-based space development plant.
The cost of developing the Amos 8 is 220 million dollars, as confirmed by Spacecom.
In the last months Spacecom stopped the emission of bonds to finance the agreement. The space industry mentioned that it happened because of the announcement of the construction of its own satellite at the hands of the Israeli government, manufactured by its local industry.
The new satellite will be built by IAI to take care of the knowledge that was acquired in the last years after the recommendation of the Ministry of Science and Technology.
Senior officials of the IAI explained during the last two years that it was necessary to acquire a new satellite so as not to close its communication activity.
In September 2016 a satellite (Amos 6) suffered a technical failure when it was to be launched and exploded causing a crisis in Israel’s communications satellite industry.
The rocket that suffered the explosion had been manufactured by SpaceX, in charge of the millionaire Elon Musk.
Alexander Carswell-sharp