Haim Eshed

Eshed immigrated with his parents from Istanbul in the 1940s and grew up in Tel Aviv near the boundary between the Mugrabi and Hatikva neighborhoods.[4] He was sent to vocational school and later entered the Technion without a matriculation certificate, first studying civil engineering and then electrical engineering.[4] He subsequently completed a doctorate in aeronautical engineering before moving into senior military technology and space-program roles.[4]

In the late 1970s, Eshed was a colonel leading development work in the Military Intelligence Directorate and the Intelligence Corps command.[3] His studies in operations research in the United States coincided with the Moon landing, and he recalled that the Apollo program helped persuade him that space technology could answer Israel’s intelligence needs.[3]

The prospect of peace with Egypt gave his thinking a specific operational focus: after Egyptian President Anwar Sadat’s visit to Israel, officials worried about how they would monitor compliance with an agreement without reconnaissance flights over Egypt.[3] Eshed subsequently explained the problem in terms of the withdrawal from Sinai following the 1979 peace treaty: “if we wanted to know what was happening there, the only way would be from above, from satellites.”[6]

Eshed began preliminary discussions about an Israeli satellite in 1978, encountering objections that the project would cost too much and exceed the country’s technological capabilities.[3] His broader proposal was for an independent space industry encompassing both satellites and launchers, rather than reliance on foreign capabilities.[1] The initiative developed amid debate within the defense establishment, where the Ministry of Defense’s Directorate for Defense, Research and Development had substantial independence over decisions and research budgets, and a Space Directorate was established under it.[1]

Defense Minister Ezer Weizman asked Eshed to obtain assessments from leading academics and defense industries, and feasibility work drew support from the Technion, Tel Aviv University, Israel Aerospace Industries, and Rafael.[3] After the United States declined a request for satellite imagery of Iraq ahead of the planned strike on its nuclear reactor, Military Intelligence chief Yehoshua Saguy allocated five million dollars to begin the satellite project.[3] Israel Aerospace Industries and Rafael each received five million shekels for preliminary design work.[3]

Prime Minister Menachem Begin approved the satellite project on July 19, 1981, despite the chief of staff’s objection, declaring, “The people of Israel will need a satellite in the future.”[3] Eshed then headed the Defense Ministry’s “Avir” project administration.[3] He believed that Israel’s ability to develop its own satellite contributed to its readiness to proceed with withdrawal from Sinai.[6]

In 1983, Eshed and Professor Yuval Ne’eman established the Israel Space Agency, which initially also served as a civilian cover for the secret military space program.[3] The agency’s formal establishment followed a government decision that year.[7] Eshed later became a visiting professor at Tel Aviv University and, two years afterward, at the Technion’s new space institute.[3]

Within the Ofek program, Eshed directed the satellite component of an effort developed secretly, with limited funds and without outside consultants.[2] Launching from Israel required avoiding overflight of neighboring countries, leading to westward launches that he estimated carried a penalty of nearly 40 percent.[2] These constraints demanded both smaller satellites and additional launcher thrust; describing the pressure on the engineers, he said, “Under the shadow of the guillotine, we can do wonders.”[2]

Ofek 1 launched from Palmachim on September 19, 1988, under the initial security designation “Oz 1.”[3] The basic, 156-kilogram satellite remained in space for 118 days, but it was not yet an operational imaging satellite.[3] Ofek 2 followed in April 1990 with improved computers and two-way communications.[3]

Two launches of imaging-equipped satellites failed before Ofek 3 reached orbit in April 1995 as Israel’s first orbital reconnaissance satellite.[3] Its first image showed the Israel Aerospace Industries complex in Lod, and Eshed identified the aircraft visible in it by type.[3] Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was subsequently shown images of sites in Libya and Iraq and reacted with visible emotion.[3]

By 2009, Israel had launched 15 satellites in the two decades since its first launch, and Eshed described the operational value of satellite reconnaissance as giving the IDF “a set of eyes anywhere in the world.”[6] He put the weight of Israeli satellites at roughly 300–400 kilograms, contrasting them with much larger American spacecraft, and advocated further miniaturization and systems with both military and civilian uses.[6]

Funding remained a recurring concern in his public statements.[6][8] In 2009, he described having about $100 million at his disposal, compared with annual American space-program investment of $50 billion, and warned that inadequate funding could undermine Israel’s position in space.[6] At his retirement in 2011, he said promised funds had not been released and warned that insufficient investment over the next two years could cost Israel space capabilities, industrial projects, and jobs.[8] Israel then had 10 satellites in space.[8]

Eshed had intended to leave the space administration for educational work after astronaut Ilan Ramon returned from his mission and took over the role, but Ramon died when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during re-entry in 2003.[3] Eshed instead remained until 2011, when retired brigadier general Amnon Harari succeeded him.[3] His retirement plans included becoming a director at the Israel Space Agency.[8]

After his defense-program leadership, Eshed continued advocating small, relatively inexpensive satellites.[9] In 2012, he proposed clusters capable of imaging, communications, mapping, and tracking at a fraction of the cost of large satellites.[9] He also suggested using small engines attached to obsolete satellites to push them into the atmosphere as a way of addressing space debris.[9]

By 2014, Eshed chaired the military space committee in Israel’s National Council for Research and Development.[10] His public discussion of technological development extended to cyber capabilities and the defense establishment’s efforts to turn military technologies into products for civilian markets.[10] In a March 2014 interview, he said, “In cyber, we are breaking new ground,” adding that Israel had worked in the field for more than 20 years even when it had not used the term “cyber.”[10]

In 2016, Eshed promoted nanosatellites weighing one to 10 kilograms that could operate in clusters or swarms.[2] He described a possible coordinated swarm of 2,000 nanosatellites functioning as a large-aperture telescope, and argued that Israel possessed the manpower, technology, and accumulated experience to become one of the leading space powers.[2]

Eshed’s contribution to Israeli space capabilities combined advocacy for an initially doubted national project with leadership of its satellite development over three decades.[1][2] The Ofek effort produced an independent orbital reconnaissance capability through work conducted under secrecy, financial limitations, and demanding launch constraints.[2] His public emphasis remained on preserving that capability through investment, miniaturization, and applications beyond purely military requirements.[6][8]

Science education became another substantial part of his work.[3][11] In the early 1990s, Eshed and Technion physics professor Giora Shaviv initiated a student satellite program; a student-built satellite entered orbit on July 10, 1998, and transmitted signals to Earth for 12 years.[11] Eshed also helped initiate five science centers, including one in a Bedouin town, and said that Israel’s first nanosatellite was developed by high-school students at the Herzliya Science Center.[11]

His later educational activities included support for student-built nanosatellites and a project in which students from the Bedouin town of Hura helped manage the Duchifat 2 satellite mission.[3] He also sought support for “Israel 70,” a proposal for 70 local schools to build 70 satellites for Israel’s 70th birthday in 2018.[2]

Eshed received multiple defense honors; a 2018 profile reported two Israel Security Prizes and a Chief of Staff citation from Yitzhak Rabin in 1967.[3] His combination of technical leadership, teaching, and support for school satellite programs connected the development of Israel’s military space infrastructure with the training of younger participants in space science.[2][3]

In a 2020 interview, Eshed claimed that a “Galactic Federation” was coordinating with governments and that the United States had an agreement with extraterrestrials; he also alleged that American and extraterrestrial representatives shared an underground base on Mars.[4] He said President Donald Trump had nearly disclosed their existence but had been discouraged because humanity was not ready and disclosure could cause mass hysteria.[4] He also claimed extraterrestrial intervention had prevented nuclear disasters.[4] These statements were unverified, and Eshed acknowledged that he could not prove the alleged agreement and had never personally seen a UFO.[4]

The claims appeared alongside his life story in The Universe Beyond the Horizon, co-written with Hagar Yanai.[4] Explaining his decision to speak publicly, Eshed said academic discussion had changed and that, having received his degrees and awards, he had “nothing to lose.”[4]

Israel Space Agency chairman Isaac Ben-Israel rejected the idea of physical encounters between humans and aliens while affirming Eshed’s professional standing and calling him “the father of Israel’s space capabilities.”[12] Astronomer Avi Loeb said Eshed had no evidence and warned that unsupported claims by prominent people could damage public perceptions of science.[5] Following international coverage, a NASA spokesperson said the agency had found no signs of life beyond Earth and was continuing its search; the White House did not respond, while the Pentagon declined to comment.[13]