What To Know
- CHKP), a leading provider of cyber security solutions globally, is supporting the Rakia Israeli space mission by hosting the communication to the specialised control centre, located at its headquarters in Tel Aviv where it will also be accommodating a visitor centre.
- This will include a control room from which scientists, artists and educators can monitor the activities of Eytan Stibbe and enable them to make necessary changes to experiments in real-time, while conducting a direct dialogue with the control room of the ISS in the United States.
Editor’s brief: Most of the time, when we talk to a cybersecurity vendor, it is often about cybersecurity breaches, patching vulnerabilities, and so on. A rare occasion comes when one of the leading cybersecurity vendors in the world, Check Point Software, decides to do something esoteric and exhilarating – supporting the Rakia mission into space. Check Point Software is hosting the communication to the specialized control centre in its headquarters in Tel Aviv, with a unique Rakia Mission Center purpose-built, with control room and to maintain dialog with the astronaut in space. . Astronaut Eytan Stibbe will conduct 35 experiments, ranging from food and agriculture, medical testing, microgravitity, and so on. Read more below.
SINGAPORE — Check Point® Software Technologies Ltd. (NASDAQ: CHKP), a leading provider of cyber security solutions globally, is supporting the Rakia Israeli space mission by hosting the communication to the specialised control centre, located at its headquarters in Tel Aviv where it will also be accommodating a visitor centre. On April 8th, Israeli astronaut Eytan Stibbe is scheduled to take off from Cape Canaveral, Florida on a mission to the International Space Station (ISS). Whilst there, he will conduct 35 experiments, ranging from research in food and agriculture, medical testing, the impact of microgravity on plastic degradation, to experiments with transient luminous events, and more. The mission is set to last 8 to 10 days.
As part of the undertaking, a unique Rakia Mission Center has been built at the Check Point Software offices in Tel Aviv. This will include a control room from which scientists, artists and educators can monitor the activities of Eytan Stibbe and enable them to make necessary changes to experiments in real-time, while conducting a direct dialogue with the control room of the ISS in the United States.
“In recent years, civilian companies have spent billions of dollars trying to create an ‘easy’ path into space which has created new technologies but in turn, new challenges for cyber security,” said Oded Vanunu, Head of Product Vulnerabilities Research at Check Point Software Technologies. “With a huge amount of communication and data between spacecraft and Earth, every phase of the Rakia mission needs to be protected. We are proud to secure this vital communications between the space station and our control centre on Earth.”
The mission will enable Israeli entrepreneurs and researchers to advance innovative ideas and will provide a rare opportunity for them to test their enterprises in a unique study environment, thereby contributing to international and Israeli research industries. The visitor centre, hosted by Check Point, will make the Rakia Mission Centre accessible to thousands of students, allowing them to experience the human journey into space through interactive elements and inspiring educational activities. The center is divided into five complexes, each representing a different aspect of the mission:
- The International Space Station Complex
- The “Rakia” Mission Complex
- The Scientific Experiments Complex
- The Life in the International Space Station Complex
- The Inspirational “There is no dream too far away” Complex.
Visitors will be able to experience a visualisation of the Crisper experiment from Tel Aviv University and the Volcanic Institute, which will test genetic diagnosis of viruses and bacteria in space missions under micro-gravity conditions. In addition, a remote medical experiment will be simulated – stress detection and monitoring the well-being of remote astronauts, by “Sheba Medical Center”, which recognises the development of emotional distress and stressful situations through an app. The app will analyse the emotional state of visitors, just like that of astronauts on the space station. The inspirational “No Dream Too Far” area is a special photography exhibit that demonstrates the “Coppola” aka the window through which the astronauts observe the Earth from the International Space Station.
###
