Expanding the frontiers of our universe

The Institute’s Frontiers of the Universe initiative will leverage Weizmann scientists’ expertise in particle and astrophysics to reveal new insights about how the universe came into existence and where it might be going.

The Weizmann Institute is a founding member of the GMTO Corporation, an international consortium building the Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT) in Chile, which will be the most powerful ground-based optical telescope in the world. Dr. Sagi Ben-Ami from the Department of Particle Physics and Astrophysics is designing a spectrograph for the GMT that will make it possible to determine the mass of Earth-sized planets outside our solar system, and detect “biosignatures” indicating the possibility of past or present life.

Weizmann astrophysicists are the principal designers of ULTRASAT, Israel’s first Earth-orbiting satellite dedicated to space research, set to launch from Cape Canaveral in 2025. ULTRASAT is designed to alert observatories to critical, emerging events in deep space, and help answer important questions in astrophysics. The Institute is collaborating with the Israel Space Agency, Elbit Systems, DESY, Israel Aerospace Industries, and others on this project.