The Shalom Mission

The SHALOM Mission is a joint initiative of the Israel Space Agency and the ASI - The Italian Space Agency. The collaboration agreement signed in 2009 includes joint development of satellites in the fields of communication and observation and is half-funded by Israel and half-funded by Italy.

In March 2009, a collaboration agreement was signed between the agencies and in October 2015, at the International Astronautical Conference that was held in Jerusalem, Israel, the agencies signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) that will bring the project to its operational stage at 2021.

The project primarily focuses on the hyperspectral observation satellite, which has many uses in the fields of environmental protection, agriculture, research, etc. The satellite will feature a panchromatic camera with a 2.5-m GSD, which will enable the production of a series of photographs in different wavelengths, and spectral measurements that enable the discovery and identification of chemical substances such as mines, vegetation monitoring and locating contaminants on the earth’s surface, in bodies of water and in the atmosphere.