Israel and France launch nanosatellite to monitor vegetation, predict weather

• Published date: 13 October 2021
• Author: YAFIT OVADIA
• Publication title: Jerusalem Post, The: Web Edition Articles (Israel)

From facilities in Toulouse, France to Israel's Elbit Systems Ltd, Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, Israel Aerospace Industries, and the Jacob Blaustein Institute for Desert Research at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev; many teams worked tirelessly on the plan. The Jerusalem Report spoke to Prof. Arnon Karnieli, who headed the research at BGU, and devotes his time to studying the environment and improving agricultural efficacy in the Negev, which is no easy feat.

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Karnieli has been passionate about the state of our environment for several years, dating back to his time spent at the University of Arizona, where he focused on watershed management, or soil and water conservation that aims to reduce floods and sediment control as well as increasing agricultural food production. "By addressing the problems of land and water use by humans, we can create a more sustainable environment," he said. Currently, he investigates the desert environment of the southern Negev and attempts to uncover clues to improve vegetation, and predict weather climates to assist farmers in producing better crop yield through precision agriculture. The benefits of using such technologies are abundant, among them the ability to identify possible environmental stressors and reduce them, producing a better-quality crop that is financially efficient and sustainable.

The VENµS probe was launched from a CNES base in French Guiana on August 1, 2017. Of its many objectives, it aims to help researchers better monitor the influence of humans on soil, topography, and climate. The idea behind the nanosatellite began back in 1987 when Israeli and German groups proposed a project, coined David, to develop a multispectral space camera with a unique set of lenses, mirror-blockers, and detectors. The resulting endeavor, which came to fruition in 2005, was named "Vegetation and Environmental New Micro Spacecraft," or VENµS, and was based upon the original designs.

The probe continues to conduct routine flybys of the Earth, and attains high resolution, multispectral images of specific sites around the world. "VENµS's scientific objective is to acquire data that deals with monitoring, analyzing, and modeling land surface functions that are under the influence of environmental factors and human activities," Karnieli explained. The nanosatellite is equipped with a large number of narrow spectral bands, which help the sensors onboard measure specific wavelengths on the electromagnetic spectrum...