Israel Shall Reach The Stars

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The Year is October 4, 1957 and the world has been frenzied with the launch of the Soviet Sputnik and crisis in the Middle East. The Israeli government has seen fit to start a peaceful space program while also benefiting the military and intelligence sectors.  They have four main goals upon which is reached, there will be four more announced by the timeline. During these goals, the Israeli Space Agency will pursue other related rocketry as well. 

The Four Goals of the Israeli Space Agency (October 4th, 1957 to October 4th, 1977)

• Satellite in Orbit (מחפש כוכבים - Star Seeker)
• Manned Space Capsule Orbit (איש בגן של חוה - Man in Garden of Eve)
• Manned Moon Landing (ילד ירח - Moon Child)
• Docking with an American and Soviet spacecraft for Detente (ידידות תחת אלוהים - Friendship under God)

Optional Goals: A Lunar Base by the year 1970 - 1977

Prepare for the first posts this coming week.

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October 6th, 1957 (the next post will advance to January 3rd, 1959)

ISRAEL LAUNCHES SUBORBITAL SATELLITE!

The Beresheet-1, a rocket of the Star Seeker program

The Satellite was launched on a suborbital trajectory to test the launch platform. The launch vehicle consisted of two stages with the first stage being propelled by a Kerosene-fueled rocket and six solid rocket boosters propelling the aircraft through much of the beginning air. The rocket was not reported to have reached past the Karmen-Line but the next launch of the Beresheet (Beresheet-2) will be launched into proper space. The launch was met with applause from the United States who suggested that the ability to perform in space and have a platform for rockets is good for defending Israel as a country. Israeli President Yitzhak Ben-Zvi has stated that the space program of Israel is not meant as an aggressive means towards Israeli neighbors and that it is to explore the cosmos. The Soviet Union has responded by sending advisors from its space program to the Republic of Syria. 

See Page Three for picture of Israeli suborbital satellite

Beresheet-1 Satellite itself, laying on the sandy plains of the recovery zone.

The Satellite sent by Israeli space agency was admitted by both the rockets designer and the Israeli space agency to be a very simplistic design.  A simple converted rocket stage with machinery such as antenna and a camera in addition to a container that held a Norway Rat to examine the effects of space travel on rodents. Also equipped onto the simplistic satellite was a rather "bucket" heatshield which was placed ontop to help the satellite defer any thermal trouble should any happen. Thankfully it didn't present much. The satellite was equipped with two parachutes as all satellites under the Beresheet series will be since they will be sent to orbit and then deorbited and recovered for scientific gain. It is believed this research will help with a human astronaut.

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The second post shall be posted by today or tomorrow. Ran into a slight problem installing a life support mod and the BDArmory mod.

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Israel Space Agency launches attempted Orbital flight, malfunction causes Suborbital!

The ISA launched Aleichem-1 around the afternoon, a rather elegantly blue two stage rocket with two strap-on SRBs that sent it powering throughout much of the early atmosphere. Due to the fairing located on the upper-stages we weren't able to see the crewed module but many space agencies around the world have said that a fairing is vital to a rockets ascent as it protects important electronics and other hardware as temperatures during ascent can ascend to those seen on re-entry.  The rocket was seen tumbling after the strap-on SRBs ran out of propellant, in an last-ditch effort the human pilot activated staging and staged away the first stage, leaving only the second stage to propel the rocket where Aleichem-1 was to set new goals rather than let the failure of the first stage keep it grounded. The rocket reached 900,000 in one of it's first landmark goals... 

Artist's Impression of the Second-stage recovering from the near-fatal issue with the first stage. Also pictured is the Jerusalem-Capsule with the Science and Power module.

The Camera from the Power-module took a picture of this moment when the Israeli astronaut exited the Jerusalem-capsule to recover scientists. In this picture, you can also see the container that holds the Norway Rat being exposed to space.

A photograph from the BBC showing the Jerusalem-Capsule landing from its suborbital adventure in British India where it was recovered the Israeli Embassy and attaches sent ahead by the ISA.

These goals set by the Israeli Space Agency and accomplished on this historical mission is astounding proving that humans can work in space and go to the highest levels of space, recover them safely. The ISA does not consider this a "human in space" or the goal accomplished until it is a full orbital flight. It intends to leave that honor to a more accomplished space force such as the United States or the Soviet Union. 

 

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Israel tests Rocket-Powered aircraft known as "Starbreaker"

Starbreaker taking off from Runway 09 under the power of it's four engines.

The Israeli Space Agency tested a rocket-powered aircraft earlier this week in a flurry of launches and various other radical new measures. It was believed to have been inspired by the Me-163 Komet aircraft and looked to be a remarkably-interesting aircraft. Israeli Space officials said that the aircraft was powered by four small rocket engines that ran off liquid fuels although it is a rather basic design. The rocket plane engines can only be ignited once and throttled up and down respectively making it a trickier-than-usual aircraft with Israel hiring some of the best test pilots in the Western world to help test out the aircraft. They further stated that they could hope a throttable and reignitable rocket engine mounted to the Starbreaker could pave the way towards a reusable space-plane that may take off from airports around the world by private pilots rather than Government agencies. Concept art released by the Israeli Space Agency shows that it could also be mounted onto rockets and released into the upper atmosphere. This would make it function much like some of the X-series aircraft in the United States. 

What makes Starbreaker different from the X-series is that it appears to have a Grid-fin attached to the top of the aircraft which makes landing much easier. It also has drogue and main chutes equipped onto the aircraft in the event of an abort sequence. There is also the rumor of a ejection-seat escape also in the event but the ISA refused to comment on this matter for now, although the pilots of the Starbreaker wear the spacesuits seen on the prior Suborbital flight undertaken by the ISA which confirms that a high-ejection could be considered a possibility in the Starbreaker. The next series of launches with the Starbreaker will be testing new engines and other systems that could make it a regular vehicle for the ISA to use in training pilots for its manned outerspace program.

Manned Orbital flight achieved by Israel

Israel managed to join the United States and the Soviet Union in establishing orbital dominance with its rockets, launching the second-edition of the Jerusalem Capsule into a orbit of the Earth where it completed a week-long orbit. It was launched on a new launch platform called the "Aviv-I" platform which has two large stages with very large boosters to propel it through the atmosphere. The platform included advances such as a Launch-Escape System and more safety features as well as better aerodynamic controls in response to the previous issue that prevented the first Jerusalem Capsule from reaching a full orbit. In that event, the main stage after the boosters were jettisoned tumbled wildly until the human-pilot activated an emergency sequence in which the core stage was jettisoned and the second stage was started in emergency settings. However that launch lacked an emergency abort and it is believed that if such an event proceeded to get worse the capsule could only decouple and use its RCS thrusters to move it from the rocket which was very possible if the human pilot was slower in activating the emergency sequence.

But enough about the bad, we noticed that the ISA done away with the prior system with the Jerusalem Capsule, the science module completely removed however the service module staying put. We also saw the truss structure that connected the craft to the Service/science module removed which gave the spacecraft a more sleek and pleasing appearance. It was also noticed that the craft had solar panels albeit small. The Jerusalem Capsule also appeared to make use of one of the rocket engines that were used on the Starbreaker plane which had been described in an official ISA report to be a good choice for the Jerusalem Capsule due to the fuel-efficient ability. The spacecraft also conducted a series of thrusting maneuvers with its engine and RCS thrusters potentially to help advance the Starbreaker plane and the capsules abilities itself. It later landed back off the coast of Israel in a water landing where it was retrieved by the Israeli navy. The astronaut was reported to be in good health and very excited after the week-long journey.

We await with excitement to see the next move from the Israeli Space Agency, will they bring a Starbreaker to space or perhaps something more adventurous?