ASRI Asher Space Research Institute

A new ASRI–Georgia Tech study was published in the ‘Journal of Electric Propulsion’.
This landmark study, titled “Performance comparison and analysis of low-power Hall thruster operation on atomic and molecular propellants”, and co-authored by researchers from the Asher Space Research Institute (ASRI) at Technion and the School of Aerospace Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech), presents a comprehensive experimental investigation of the low-power CAMILA Hall effect thruster. Operating at powers under 500 W, the thruster was successfully tested on traditional atomic gases like Xenon, Krypton, and Argon and alternative molecular propellants like Carbon Dioxide and Nitrogen inside ASRI’s electric propulsion laboratory. Characterizing these alternative propellants is incredibly important for the future of space exploration, since molecular gases are highly abundant throughout the solar system. These propellants, such as air (low orbits), water (moon), carbon dioxide (Mars), and others, are prime candidates for in situ resource utilization, and offer a cost-effective, available alternative to conventional propellants.

This milestone shows the benefit of the ongoing collaboration between ASRI and Georgia Tech, which successfully bridges fundamental Plasma thruster physics with world-class experimental testing facilities. This partnership continues to flourish through active educational and research collaborations, including programs where Georgia Tech Aerospace engineering students intern directly at ASRI. Building on this momentum, our joint teams are currently working on another exciting project that utilizes the extensive dataset generated from these multi-propellant testing runs. This project aims to develop a machine learning algorithm designed to predict the performance of Hall effect thrusters operating on molecular or alternative propellants, potentially bypassing the need for exhaustive experimental testing and accelerating the development of next-generation green and cost-effective electric propulsion systems.

Performance comparison and analysis of low-power hall thruster operation on atomic and molecular propellants - Journal of Electric Propulsion A detailed experimental investigation into the performance of a low-power Hall effect thruster (HET), Simplified CAMILA, operating on both atomic (Xe, Kr, Ar) and molecular (CO $$_2$$ , N $$_2$$ ) propellants is performed. The study measures thrust, specific impulse, and internal efficiencies across...

ASRI was happy to host some of the Technion R&D employees for a tour of our labs and a chat with a few of our engineers, see below.

ASRI hosted the "Halalliance" team, a group of excellent junior-high school students from the Alliance-Haifa school.
The team works throughout their 7th school year towards participation in the International Space Olympiad program, an initiative of the Israel Space Agency in the Ministry of Innovation, Science and Technology, and the Ministry of Education, which covers space exploration, science, technology, and innovation, and combines learning, research, and competition between schools from Israel and the world, giving students the opportunity to experience practical learning, teamwork and challenge-solving.
The Alliance students and their teacher, Areej Tourky, got a tour of some of ASRI's facilities. They heard a lot about ongoing and possible future work from ASRI's researcher, Dr. Alex Frid, and got to ask him many questions that showed their curiosity and proved their interest in the topic of space.
It was a great experience to have them visit, and ASRI is wishing Alliance the best of luck in future competitions!

Congratulations to Nadav Mailhot and Yehonatan Or-Hof, for Winning the Shinar Students' Award and the Seginer Students' Award, respectively. Nadav and Yehonatan are both students of Prof. Pini Gurfil, and ASRI is very proud of them both!

ASRI hosted Prof. Fadi Kizel and his team from the Laboratory for Multidimensional Analysis in Remote Sensing (MARS) at the Technion. They got a tour of some of ASRI's facilities, and discussed ongoing work and possible future cooperation around the calibration of C3IEL spaceborne cameras and design of interesting new camera concepts for remote sensing.

A different aspect of Israel Space Week: As part of the week's activities, Dr. Alex Frid represented ASRI in a volunteering in the community project, helping a student preparing for the Astronomical Photo Decoding Competition at the Kinneret Observatory: https://www.aastro.net/space-32/
The student, Lenny Koren, from Habonim elementary school in Haifa, won 1st place in the competition. Congratulations Lenny, we're proud of you!

As part of Israel's Space Week led by ISA and the Rakia Mission, Space Campus IL and ASRI hosted NASA astronaut Randy Bresnik, and Rebecca Bresnik, Associate General Counsel for International and Space Law Practice Group Headquarters, for a guided tour of some of the most interesting space-related projects that the Technion has to offer!
Following the tour, the Bresniks, husband and wife, gave a joint lecture to the students of the Aerospace Faculty, offering insights into human spaceflight, international space cooperation, and the intersection between science, law, and society. They also shared some of their personal experiences as a "space-related" family and gave a very rare and interesting peek into their lives. It was a wonderful experience and we are thankful to everyone who helped make this day happen, including Yuval Malul from the Space Campus IL Community, Rakia Mission, and of course our very own Dr. Alex Frid and Saar Levi from the faculty of Aerospace Eng.

Last Tuesday ASRI hosted the Head of Space Campus IL Community, Rakia Mission, Yuval Malul, for a visit. In a tour led Dr. Alex Frid and Saar Levi - from fundamental space research to applied works she was introduced to some of the many cutting-edge projects the institute is doing.

Horizon – The Israeli Space Educators and Leaders Community visited the Technion.
The Horizon–North community meeting was held at the Technion, and began with a tour of the laboratories at the Asher Space Research Institute, led by Dr. Alex Frid.
The tour included the ion engine in the Electrical Propulsion laboratory and how it operates, as well as the testing process in the vacuum chamber, and the visitors learned how it is used for orbit corrections in satellites like ‘Venus.’ Then they visited the Space Optics laboratory and were introduced to advanced optical systems that enable very high-resolution imaging.
Then they continued to the Physics Faculty, where they were presented the field of cosmic radiation detection and the innovative detector they are developing within the framework of the GALI project, and they got a close look at the research stages in the satellite laboratory.
Towards the end of the visit, community members shared some of their initiatives and preparations for Space Week, and Prof. David Pundak talked about and emphasized the importance of involving students in scientific activities.

Congratulations to Hovhannes Agalarian for receiving the Technion Research & Development Foundation’s ‘Outstanding Employee’ award for 2025!
Hovhannes (Hovik) is a brilliant electronics engineer, and a creative and dedicated one at that. He has been with ASRI for a long time, and over the years he contributed greatly to all of ASRI's important activities. He is responsible for the development and integration of the hardware (electronics) and software systems in satellites, and his contribution to the projects is crucial, and relies on professional depth on the one hand, and breadth of horizons and extensive knowledge on the other.
Thank you Hovik, for being such an important part of ASRI, we all hope for many more years of working together!