Participants in the International Space University’s 29th Space Studies Program (SSP), currently being held at the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, posed for a group photo from space yesterday. The photo, taken from a height of 520 kilometers, shows the 104 program participants lying on the main lawn of the Technion campus in Haifa, with their bodies forming the letters ISU - the abbreviation of
International Space University.
The photo was taken by the EROS-B satellite. The EROS observation satellites, built by
Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) and operated by the Israeli company
ImageSat International (ISI), are equipped with a space camera manufactured by El-Op. ISI previously purchased two such satellites and ordered a third satellite last year, far more advanced than the existing models. EROS satellite photos are sold to both civilian and defense customers worldwide.
Group photo of the participants in the ISU Space Studies Program as taken from the ground simultaneously with the photo taken from space.
Photo: Nitzan Zohar, Office of the Spokesperson, Technion
The highly acclaimed Space Studies Program (SSP) has been conducted annually by the International Space University since 1988. Each summer, it is held in a different host institution in locations spanning the globe. This is the first time it is being held in the Middle East - at the Technion in Haifa, Israel.