Meet the newly selected female candidates participating in the "Parasol Foundation Women in SpaceIL Program"
We’re excited to welcome the first five exceptional fellows to The Parasol Foundation Women in SpaceIL Programme.
“I’m so proud of this exceptional and diverse group of women who have joined the Parasol Foundation Women in SpaceIL Program. They’ve already overcome immense barriers and I know they will continue to push boundaries, contribute to global space advancements, and inspire others to follow in their footsteps.” - Ruth Parasol
Ruth Parasol recently travelled to the SpaceIL offices in Yehud to meet the new fellows, hear their stories, the challenges they’ve encountered and their ambitions for the future.
Science, and the space domain in particular, suffer from a large under-representation of women. Through the program, we’re creating opportunities for young female engineers and scientists, encouraging more women to study STEM, and promoting an increased number of successful careers for women in the fields of science and space.
Michal Pushkov and Sahar Peretz, two junior engineers, have been recruited by SpaceIL to take part in the development of the Beresheet2 spacecraft that will be launched to the moon in 2025 and will conduct novel scientific experiments and educational missions - ensuring more women are involved with groundbreaking projects such as this from the very onset of their careers.
Julia Saleh and Or Nataf, two graduate level female engineering students from the Israel Institute of Technology, will receive scholarships to further their PHD research on astrophysical gamma ray detection and MSC research on space vehicle lunar landing, respectively.
Dr. Neta Palkovitz, a commercial lawyer specialising in space law and policy, will be granted a scholarship for her post-doctoral research focusing on legal and regulatory aspects of space sustainability issues.
We’re providing $500,000 to fund the fellowships as part of our larger $2.03M contribution to SpaceIL’s current Beresheet2 mission.