Iran’s announcement on Monday that it had successfully launched a monkey into
space and returned the primate safely to Earth became a hot topic a day later as
the eighth annual Ilan Ramon International Space Conference opened in
Herzliya.
“People are speaking about it a lot, and rightfully so,” said
Brig-Gen. (res.) Asaf Agmon. “[Iran’s] space program is connected to their
missile program and the science you need to launch a monkey into space is the
same that you need to send a warhead over the Atlantic Ocean, so there’s a
connection and the world can’t ignore it.”
Agmon is CEO of the Fisher
Institute for Air and Space Strategic Studies, which is hosting the conference
this week.
He said Iran has placed itself firmly among the group of 10
nations with the ability to send satellites into space, saying “the fact is that
the Iranians are very serious in this field. They had failures at first, but
they got over them very quickly and they’re taking this field [space] very
seriously. We don’t have to love this, but it’s the reality.”
Agmon spoke
of the conference as an opportunity to bring together officials and
entrepreneurs from the Israeli Air and Space world with members of delegations
from some 15 countries, and enhance cooperation between the Israeli space
program and its counterparts abroad.
Even taken in proportion, the
Israeli government invests relatively little in its space program compared to
its counterparts, Agmon said.
When asked if he fears that expected
government budget cutbacks will effect the field of Israeli Air and Space
research and development, he said “I very much hope not, because if we cut today
we’ll see the damage in 10, 20 years and it’s damage we wont be able to
repair.”
The conference is named after Col. Ilan Ramon, the pilot who
became Israel’s first astronaut, then died when Space Shuttle Columbia blew up
upon reentry into the atmosphere on February 1, 2003.
Ramon’s widow,
Rona, whose son Asaf died in an air force training accident in September 2009,
addressed the opening of the conference, along with President Shimon
Peres.
Ramon told the conference that “10 years have passed and today I
can say I am proud,” not only of how her family has dealt with the tragedy, but
also of the “positive changes we’ve managed to bring about in the youth of
Israel and the projects that our foundation has run.”