Every few years, the US space agency NASA launches a new hypersonic space vehicle that challenges the laws of physics with an even more state-of-the-art jet engine, more fuel savings, and lighter materials. For example, the X-43A hypersonic research aircraft can fly at Mach 5 — five times the speed of sound and has made breakthroughs for future applications like hypersonic missiles and commercial aircraft that can break the sound barrier.
NASA has already developed several such aircraft, the best known of which was the X-15, which flew in the 1960s and kept its record until 2004.
Israeli video-sensor solutions for critical systems developer Odysight.ai (OTC: ODYS), based in Ramat Gan and managed by CEO Yehu Ofer, a Brig. Gen. (res.) in the Israel Air Force will integrate one of its visualization systems into one of NASA's future aerospace vehicles.
Odysight's AI-driven Predictive Maintenance (PdM) and Condition-Based Monitoring (CBM) systems will be integrated into several aeronautical flight trials in the coming months, which will investigate their operations at high speed and extreme environments. If there are no unexpected developments, commercial orders worth an estimated single figure of millions of dollars will begin next year.
NASA is interested in embedding Odysight's cameras inside the aircraft in order to photograph many integral components at any given moment — such as telescopes, solar panels, and drills — and monitor any possible damage to them during takeoff. Often, the cargo or parts of the aircraft are damaged during launch without the ground crews being aware of it, and this is only discovered in space or upon returning to Earth.
Chosen twice by NASA
Odysight's cameras, which are currently installed on the Israel Air Force's helicopters and aircraft to monitor moving parts are designed to withstand extreme conditions — from minus 273 degrees centigrade to plus 180, strong vibrations, atmospheric pressure and radiation.
The cameras have been installed in the past on NASA's aerospace vehicles, and Odysight has received a small number of orders to install its systems on a shuttle refueling arm for space-refueling satellites. This was an important development in the manned mission to Mars, and it provided proof of the feasibility of space refueling, which could support NASA's efforts to fly spacecraft to distant planets.
Inbal Kreiss, board member of Odysight.ai and Chief of Innovation at the Systems, Missiles and Space Division of the Israeli Aerospace Industries (IAI), who managed the development of the Arrow 3 project, tells "Globes," "This is an exceptional situation, as far as I know, for an Israeli company to be chosen twice by NASA in different tenders as the only supplier."
Among the Israeli companies that have succeeded in placing products with NASA is StemRad, whose space vest, which protects against particle radiation during strong solar storms, was sent on the first Artemis mission to space two years ago.
Israeli agricultural sensor company CropX was also selected by NASA to conduct an experiment that will allow data from the sensors to be combined with information collected from NASA satellites in Arizona and to produce insights for farmers in the field of irrigation and fertilizer management.
In the 1960s, NASA also benefited from the skills of Efi Arazi, later the founder of Scitex. He was a partner in the development of satellite equipment and in the construction of the television camera that broadcasts the images from the first moon landing in 1969.
Looked for the company on the Internet
NASA found Odysight purely by chance. One of the company's founders Prof. Benad Goldwasser tells "Globes," "NASA decided to develop a shuttle to refuel satellites in outer space. Each such satellite costs $200 million, and when it can no longer be transported, it becomes scrap. Secondly, for the day the agency wants to reach Mars, it was important for it to carry out refueling missions in outer space, where temperatures can reach minus 147 degrees." NASA wanted a durable camera that could fit into the refueling tube, so that its diameter would not exceed 4 mm. "NASA searched the Internet — until it came to an Israeli company from Omer that in 2012 announced that it had managed to develop the world's smallest video camera, with a diameter of 1.2 mm," recounts Goldwasser.
The Omer-based company was Medigus, which had developed medical cameras in general, but went through upheavals and had difficulty getting back on its feet. Goldwasser, who was a serial entrepreneur of medical device startups, understood the business potential inherent in the tiny, durable cameras that were used until then to monitor very small movements during back surgery.
He recalls, "NASA asked the company: Can your camera survive in space? The answer was that we don't know. But during two experiments in 2015 and 2018, it was proven that the camera transmits a high-quality image from space, and is capable of surviving there for five days."
Goldwasser, a urological specialist, who was the youngest ever urological departmental head of an Israeli hospital, had been a cofounder of several medical startups that had been sold. The success of NASA with the camera persuaded customers like Westinghouse and Rolls Royce to acquire the camera activities of Medigus and spin them off to ScoutCam, which then changed its name to Odysight when it began focusing on the aerospace industry. Goldwasser recalls, "The medical world no longer interested us. I knew that these cameras had many other applications and decided I would continue to look for what we could do with them." Medigus no longer has any shares in the company.
To warn in advance on failures
During his searches, Golwasser met Brig. Gen. (res.) Jacob Bortman, who had served as head of the Israel Air Force Equipment Division. Bortman, who was responsible, among other things, for aircraft maintenance, understood the potential inherent in cameras for use in airplanes, helicopters and drones, identifying problems promptly can save unnecessary maintenance, time and money, and warn about a failure before it happens.
Brig. Gen. (res.) Yehu Ofer, former commander of Sde Dov Air Base, who also served as IDF attaché in Italy and as a senior executive at Elbit Systems for nearly a decade, was appointed CEO. "The wisdom is not only in the cameras but in a learning system, one that is based on artificial intelligence and algorithms and is capable of recognizing patterns," says Ofer.
Odysight, which is traded on the over-the-counter New York Stock Exchange, part of the spin-off legacy it inherited from Medigus, earlier this week reported revenue of $2.7 million for the first nine months of 2024, more than double the $1.08 million over the corresponding period of 2023. Net loss rose slightly from $8.1 million in the corresponding period in 2023 to $8.2 million this year.
The company also reported an orders backlog of $16 million, including the NASA order, a prototype of an Apache attack helicopter for the Israeli Air Force, a maintenance system for a defense company that will be integrated into upgraded Seahawk helicopters for the Israel Air Force; and orders from French aircraft engine manufacturer Safran. In July, the company raised $10.3 million from private investors, including Mori Arkin.
