Israel has signed a 10-year strategic agreement with NASA, which includes reconfirmation of the launch of the ULTRASAT satellite mission. The partnership highlights the shared commitment to advancing space research and expanding scientific and technological cooperation.
For more info, see the ISA press release
ULTRASAT’s 5th scientific collaboration workshop was held on September 16-17, 2025.
The meetings were successful and productive with an attendance of 65 participants.
Specifically, we welcomed the new collaborators from QUVIK and LJMU .
The ULTRASAT high-cadence survey (HCS) fields were officially selected during the recent ULTRASAT collaboration workshop. These fields will be observed with 300s exposures continuously for ~21 hr/day during 180-day windows.
For more details, see ULTRASAT modes of operation
ULTRASAT Science Operation Center Review took place on September 9 and 10, 2024. The review was attended by members of the WIS, SOC, ULTRASAT project office, DESY, NASA, and IAI. The review will be approved in the upcoming weeks, pending the completion of several action items.
ULTRASAT’s 3rd scientific collaboration workshop was held on July 11-13, 2023 at the Weizmann Institute of Science.
The meetings were successful and productive with an attendance of 75 participants.
Specifically, we welcomed and integrated the new US members and associates into the ULTRASAT collaboration and working groups
Workshop webpage
ULTRASAT Ground Control Segment Critical Design Review took place on May 21 and 24, 2023. The CDR meeting was attended by members of the ULTRASAT project office, DESY, NASA, SOC and IAI.
Pending the completion of several action items, the CDR will be approved in the upcoming weeks.
In accordance with the agreement signed between NASA and ISA, NASA officially joined as a partner in ULTRASAT and will provide the launch opportunity, Flight Payload Adapter, and other launch-related responsibilities for ULTRASAT. NASA will also have a partnership with the ULTRASAT Science program. This is a significant milestone for the project.
Press release
ויצמן-מסע הקסם המדעי (Hebrew version)
A very successful “Introducing ULTRASAT” session was held on January 10, 2023, at the AAS meeting,
providing to the US astronomical community an overview of the ULTRASAT mission and its exciting science program.
We further discussed aspects of the US involvement, including the role of ULTRASAT in the NASA mission portfolio; the US ULTRASAT archive; synergies with the Vera Rubin Observatory; and the NASA proposal call for ULTRASAT Participating Scientists.
The batch of ULTRASAT sensors successfully finished wafer level testing.
After full verification and optimization of the design, the functionality and performance of all sensors (i.e, dies) were measured (e.g., QE, dark current, read noise, gain, bad pixels).
All functional sensors were diced and picked and are being shipped to the packaging company.
ULTRASAT satellite Critical Design Review took place on April 11-14, 2022.
The CDR meeting was attended by members of the ULTRASAT Project office, IAI, Elbit/Elop, DESY and NASA. Pending the completion of several action items, the CDR will be approved in the upcoming weeks.
ULTRASAT Camera Critical Design Review took place on October 25-27, 2021 at DESY in Zeuthen. The CDR meeting was attended by members of the ULTRASAT Project Office, DESY, IAI, Elbit/Elop, NASA, STA, and Tower. Pending the completion of several action items, the CDR was successfully approved in December 2021. Congrats!
The flight BFI wafers production completed at Tower, and shipped to aSpect for testing, sorting and dicing.
CaF2 blanks with a diameter of ~400mm have been supplied to the lens manufacturer following radiation hardness test. Lens figuring and polishing will start by the end of 2021. In addition, initial UV optimized AR coatings have been measured on test samples - with typical refraction efficiency of >98.5% across ULTRASAT UV band.
The Weizmann Institute of Science (WIS) and the Israel Space Agency (ISA) recently agreed to initiate work on the project this coming September; in parallel they are conducting an effort to secure the budget for the entire project. This agreement was reached just as the German DESY Research Center of the Helmholtz Association pledged its support and cooperation for the initiative. Negotiations are also under way for the participation of ESA and NASA. The project is expected to cost some $70 M over a projected four years of detailed planning, construction and launch.
Press release
Payload CDR completed
ULTRASAT Payload Critical Design Review took place on January 10-13, 2022.
The CDR meeting was attended by members of the ULTRASAT Project office, Elbit/Elop, DESY, IAI and NASA. Pending the completion of several action items, the CDR will be approved in the upcoming weeks.
