THE NASA will launch her Israel’s first space missionthe satellite Ultraviolet Transient Astronomy Satellite (ULTRASAT). ULTRASAT, a large field-of-view ultraviolet observatory, will investigate the secrets of short-duration events in the universe, such as supernova explosions and neutron star mergers.

Led by the Israel Space Agency and the Weizmann Institute of Science, ULTRASAT is planned to be launched into geostationary orbit around the Earth in early 2026. In addition to providing the launch service, NASA will also participate in the mission’s science program.

“We are proud to be part of this collaboration, an international effort that will help us better understand the mysteries of the hot, transient universesaid Mark Clampin, director of the Astrophysics Division at NASA headquarters in Washington. “TULTRASAT will give the global scientific community another important opportunity for new observations in the nascent field of time-domain and multi-message astrophysics programs».

Ultraviolet Transient Astronomy Satellite (ULTRASAT)

ULTRASAT’s wide field of view will allow it to quickly discover and capture the ultraviolet light from sources in the world that change on short time scales. Researchers will combine ULTRASAT’s observations of these short-term events with information from a variety of other missions, including those studying gravitational waves and particles – a field known as time-domain and multi-message astronomy.

The results will shed light on the operation of all, from black holes and gravitational wave sources to supernovae and active galaxies.