Israel and Italy early Thursday morning launched nano-satellite DIDO-III, manufactured by Israeli company SpacePharma.
This special project, a collaboration between the Israeli Space Agency in the Ministry of Science and Technology and the Italian Space Agency, together with the development of SpacePharma, carries a tiny laboratory in which four medical scientific experiments to test drug resistance will be conducted under conditions of microgravity.
The satellite took off at 4:51 a.m. Israel time.
Avi Blasberger, head of Israel’s Space Agency, said the satellite will work as a mini-lab conducting experiments in microgravity conditions.
“Such experiments are usually performed by astronauts,” he explained, pointing out that the mini-satellite will be able to conduct them autonomously.
He stressed that SpacePharma is the only commercial company in the world to run a space-based research lab, except for NASA.