About Us
Founded in 1944, the American Committee for the Weizmann Institute of Science develops philanthropic support for the Weizmann Institute in Israel, and advances its mission of science for the benefit of humanity.
Jun 19, 2019...
The planet Proxima b orbiting the red dwarf star Proxima Centauri, the closest star to our Solar System, is seen in an undated artist's impression. (photo credit: REUTERS)
Twelve light years away from Earth is Teegarden’s Star, a star roughly twice as big and twice as old as our Sun.
Now, an international team of scientists, which included Israeli scientists from the Weizmann Institute, say that this red sun has two planets nearby which could possibly contain life. Claiming that both planets “are potentially habitable,” Dr. Ignasi Ribas from the Institute of Space Studies of Catalonia told the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics that eventually we will see “if they are actually habitable and, perhaps, even inhabited,” National Geographic reported.
Jan 27, 2020...
Similar to the gas giant planets Jupiter and Saturn, their smaller cousins, Uranus and Neptune, have long been known to harbor swirling clouds and violent winds churning up their atmospheres. Massive bands of jet streams encircling the entire planet have been observed in each case.
But given that Uranus’ atmosphere is believed to be thick enough to swallow Earth entirely, it was not known just how far the weather perturbations reach into the planet’s interior.
Aug 12, 2019... REHOVOT, ISRAEL—August 12, 2019—Weighing in at just about 160 kg (around 353 lbs), a new type of scientific satellite is planned to be built in Israel over the next four years, with a projected launch date of 2023. The satellite, known as ULTRASAT, will carry a telescope designed to observe the universe as it has never been seen before: it will operate in a range of light that is normally invisible to us – ultraviolet, or UV – and have a very large field of view.
Mar 02, 2020...
When a massive star reaches the end of its life, it can explode as a supernova. But there’s a unique type of supernova that’s much brighter that we’re just starting to understand – and which may prove useful in measuring the universe.
Known as superluminous supernovae, these events are typically 10 to 100 times brighter than a regular supernova but much more rare. We’ve spotted about 100 so far, but many aspects of these events remain elusive.
https://www.weizmann-usa.org/news-media/news-releases/beresheet-lunar-landing-site-revealed/
Mar 17, 2019...
The Beresheet landing site
REHOVOT, ISRAEL—March 17, 2019—The main scientific instrument on board the Israeli Beresheet spacecraft, the SpaceIL Magnetometer (SILMAG), has now been successfully turned on in space and data returned to Earth. After its successful launch, Beresheet is circling Earth on its journey to the Moon. Prof. Oded Aharonson of the Weizmann Institute of Science is heading the team that is currently analyzing the SILMAG information to evaluate the health and accuracy of the instrument in space, as well as recording the magnetic signature of the spacecraft itself, which will then be subtracted from the measurements made on the Moon.
Feb 11, 2019...
Prof. Oded Aharonson and the Beresheet lunar craft
REHOVOT, ISRAEL—February 11, 2019—After an enterprise lasting nearly a decade, the Israeli unmanned Moon mission “Beresheet” (“Genesis” in Hebrew) will soon take off from Earth, bound for the Moon’s rocky surface. Prof. Oded Aharonson of the Weizmann Institute of Science’s Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences is head of the international science team, and will be watching closely as the craft approaches the Moon and initiates the scientific part of the mission, which will start well before touchdown.
Mar 28, 2019...
LOS ANGELES (March 28, 2019) —XPRIZE, the global leader in designing and operating world-changing incentive competitions, announces that it will offer a $1 million Moonshot Award in recognition of an XPRIZE team demonstrating the achievement of a “moonshot” technological feat outside the parameters or timeframe of an XPRIZE competition.
The Award is inspired by SpaceIL, a former Google Lunar XPRIZE team, whose mission to become the first private, non-government entity to land on the surface of the Moon is underway, with an anticipated landing on April 11, 2019. A successful lunar landing will result in SpaceIL receiving the inaugural Moonshot Award from XPRIZE.
Mar 19, 2019...
Beresheet and its route to the moon. (photo credit: SPACEIL)
A team of scientists from the Weizmann Institute of Science and SpaceIL engineers have identified the site for Israel's Beresheet spacecraft's lunar landing.
According to a release disseminated by the Weizmann Institute, the chosen site was selected by Prof. Oded Aharonson of the Weizmann Institute and Prof. Jim Head of Brown University. It is located in the northeastern part of Mare Serenitatis, a few hundreds of miles east of the Apollo 15 landing site and a similar distance northwest from the Apollo 17 site.
Aug 12, 2019...
The Weizmann Institute of Science and the Israel Space Agency will work together to create a new "micro-satellite," the ULTRASAT, projected to launch in 2023 (Weizmann Institute of Science)
The satellite, known as ULTRASAT and weighing just 160 kilograms (353 pounds), will carry a telescope “designed to observe the Universe as it has not been seen it before,” the institute said in a statement.
May 15, 2020...
In the search for life beyond Earth, Israel Space Agency (ISA) is among four finalists chosen by NASA to develop concept studies in NASA's Discovery Program for new missions. The ISA's proposal is to launch an investigative mission to Neptune's largest moon, Triton.
Each of the four finalists, who were selected out of a group of 22, is set to receive $3 million in the coming year to develop their plans before two are selected for missions.
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