Dr. Gilead Fortuna was appointed in 2012 to serve as a member of the NCRD Committee on Civilian Space and was later appointed to serve as the head of the sub-committee dealing with R&D strategy in commercial space. The sub-committee held a series of discussions, aimed at formulating major directions for a long-term program that combines the advantages for Israel of building a commercial industry and promoting the infrastructures of science and scientific education.
The role of the committee is to advise on formulating a long-term policy for R&D in the field of commercial space that will allow the strategic targets to be achieved effectively.
The role of the subcommittee is to develop strategic thinking that will allow a long-term plan to be presented in the field of commercial space, from which a tool for presenting indices of success and a baseline for update over the coming years will be derived.
At the end of 2014, the sub-committee’s report was submitted to the committee’s plenum. The report’s recommendations were approved at the beginning of 2015 by the head of the NCRD, and were later adopted in principle by the Ministry of Science. During 2015, the activity included mainly steps to promote the application of the recommendations together with the Israel Space Agency.
