Israel and Italy early Thursday launched a tiny satellite, dubbed DIDO III, on a Vega rocket from the Kourou base in French Guyana.
The overnight launch came as a joint effort by Israeli and Italian space agencies, while the mini-satellite was developed by the Israeli-Swiss SpacePharma company.
Avi Blasberger, head of Israel's Space Agency, which is part of the Science and Technology Ministry, said the satellite will work as a mini-lab conducting experiments in the fields of biology, chemistry and medicine in microgravity conditions, each supervised by Israeli and Italian researchers.
"Such experiments are usually performed by astronauts," he explained, pointing out that the mini-satellite will be able to conduct them autonomously.
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