Officials of the Haifa Technion reported today that a satellite tracking unit is being built on the roof of the Institute’s aeronautical engineering building and that it will be finished next month.
Israel will then join the world of “moonwatchers,” and the information will be transmitted to the center of the worldwide network of tracking stations at the Astrophysical Observatory of the Smithsonian Institute at Cambridge, Mass.
The Israeli unit will be manned by volunteers from the Haifa Astronautic Society and members of the Gadna Avir, the Junior Air Cadets. They are expected to have plenty of observing to do since there are now more than 30 man-made satellites still in orbit with many more scheduled for early launching by the United States and Russia.
Establishing of the Haifa tracking station was made possible by gifts from Sam Sklar of Louisiana, a Technion supporter, and from the Haifa Municipality. Jerome Shafer, chief lecturer on aeronautical engineering at the Institute, will direct the project.
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