After a delay of about a month, the Israeli tiny, weighing in at 1.8 kg (4 lbs.), Duchifat II satellite was launched on a US Atlas-5 rocket on April 18, 2017, from Cape Canaveral in Florida.
This is the second satellite launch by Israeli high school students after their success with the first one “Duchifat” I (the Hebrew name for Hoopoe bird) in 2014. That satellite is still in orbit. It assists in locating lost people in areas without mobile telephone coverage.
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Duchifat II was developed as part of the European Union’s QB50 project (@QB50Mission).
Over 80 Israeli high school students from Herzliya, Ofakim, Yerucham, Ofra, and the Bedouin town of Hura, worked on the project.
It took two years to build Duchifat II, with the help of engineers from Israel Aerospace Industries Ltd. (IAI) and the Israel Space Agency. The project supervised by the Herzliya Science Center.
VIDEO: Rocket-mounted camera shows the Atlas 5 powering off the pad at Cape Canaveral yesterday, then rolling on course to aim Cygnus at ISS pic.twitter.com/xS2ebTOYq8
— Spaceflight Now (@SpaceflightNow) April 20, 2017
28 Cubesats from 23 countries built for the program, but Duchifat II, is the only one that has been built by high school students.
The Cubesats will be delivered to the International Space Station (ISS) from where they shall be placed into orbit in another six weeks.
Israeli Minister for Science, Technology, and Space Ofir Akunis, said, “Duchifat II is not only an educational venture that brings space closer to youth and lays the way for tomorrow’s generation, it is also an international research project. This is Israeli pride for the future generation, and an opportunity to increase public awareness about space.”
