Israel loads satellites with cutting-edge signal readers to help rescue missions

An innovative new electronic receiver developed by Israeli researchers is being placed on three nano satellites to pick up Earth-based signals for help search and rescue missions and environmental monitoring.

The trio of satellites will fly on their own in-formation with no need for human intervention, picking up electromagnetic signals and processing them to work out the exact location they were sent from.

Project leaders said the advanced electronic receiver “constitutes a unique development” in nano-satellite technology, a field in which Israel excels, with Israeli universities reporting that the three most popular courses for the past two academic years have been engineering, mathematics and computer science.

The signal detection breakthrough, under the Adelis-Samson project, was made by Technion (Israel Institute of Technology) and Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) in yet another example of academia and industry working together.

IAI chief executive Nimrod Sheffer said the receiver “offers a new way for space geo-location of ground electromagnetic signals” and built on know-how in satellites, electronic warfare, intelligence interpretation systems and communication networks.