page_title: Israel Space Agency
section_title: Launch capabilities
hierarchical_section_title: Israel Space Agency / Launch capabilities
caption_attribution_description: English: Shavit עברית: שיגור הלוויין אופק 7
context_page_description: The Israel Space Agency is a governmental body, a part of Israel's Ministry of Science and Technology, that coordinates all Israeli space research programs with scientific and commercial goals.
  The agency was founded by the theoretical physicist Professor Yuval Ne'eman in 1983 to replace the National Committee for Space Research which was established in 1960 to set up the infrastructure required for space missions. The agency is currently headed by Professor Isaac Ben Israel as Chairman and Avi Blasberger as Director General.
  Today, Israel is the smallest country with indigenous launch capabilities, and is the smallest country to have a space program.
context_section_description: The Israel Space Agency is one of only seven countries that both build their own satellites and launch their own launchers. The Shavit is a space launch vehicle capable of sending payload into low earth orbit. The Shavit launcher has been used to send every Ofeq satellite to date.
  The development of the Shavit began in 1983 and its operational capabilities were proven on three successful launches of the Ofek satellites on September 19, 1988; April 3, 1990; and April 5, 1995. The Shavit launchers allows low-cost and high-reliability launch of micro/mini satellites to a Low Earth Orbit. The Shavit launcher is developed by Malam factory, one of four factories in the IAI Electronics Group. The factory is very experienced in development, assembling, testing and operating system for use in space.
  The Shavit is a triple-stage launcher solid propellant booster based on the 2-stage Jericho-II ballistic missile. The first and second stage engines are manufactured by Ta'as, and use solid fuel. The third stage engines are manufactured by Rafael Advanced Defense Systems. The next generation Shavit rockets, now called the Shavit-2 are being developed. The Shavit-2 is said to be made available for commercial launches in the near future.
caption: Shavit launcher
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