UN Office for Outer Space Affairs Opens Israeli Branch
(October 19, 2020)
The United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs and Ben-Gurion University of the Negev plan to create a regional support office (RSO) for the United Nations Platform for Space-Based Information for Disaster Management and Emergency Response (UN-SPIDER).
This will be the 25th RSO to collaborate with UN-SPIDER on technical advisory support, capacity building and outreach for leveraging space for disaster risk reduction all over the world.
The RSO will be housed in BGU’s Earth and Planetary Image Facility, which does multi-disciplinary satellite and airborne remote sensing scientific research for environmental applications. EPIF is also a regional NASA partner.
Prof. Dan G. Blumberg, Vice-President of Ben-Gurion University for regional and industrial development, said: “Our ability to observe Earth from space and rapidly analyze complex imagery is being put to good use worldwide, mitigating disasters such as tsunamis, earthquakes and droughts.”
EPIF Laboratory Director Shimrit Maman said BGU has “additional agreements in the field of disaster management, such as one with South Korea, and we expect more in the future to further our efforts towards this important goal.”
Source: “UN Office for Outer Space Affairs to open Israeli branch,” Israel21C, (October 19, 2020).
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