The sculpture in your photo is “Light Sensor”, created by the Belgian artist Jacques Moeschal in 1962.
It is made of concrete and is part of the sculpture garden in Mitzpe Ramon, established during the first Negev Sculpture Symposium.
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In the remote Negev, Israel is building deep-space infrastructure, AI partnerships, and Mars-analog testing grounds that position a town of
by Mitch Schneider
NVIDIA is a partner in Space City. The Israeli government is backing it. And it’s being built in one of the most isolated places in the Negev because the isolation isn’t a limitation; it’s the infrastructure.
The Ramon Crater, where Space City is being built, has been validated as one of the best Mars-analog sites on Earth. When Austria’s Space Forum needed to run a month-long Mars simulation with astronauts from 25 countries, they evaluated sites globally and chose Israel.
Most countries would use that for temporary research. Israel is building permanent infrastructure. Here’s why that matters.
For 75 years, Israel treated the Negev as a challenge to overcome. Remote. Harsh. Difficult to develop. The kind of place that required massive investment just to make it livable.
Then the space economy accelerated, and Israel recognized something fundamental: The Negev’s isolation isn’t a bug.
Deep-space missions don’t need proximity to Tel Aviv. They need Mars-analog terrain, extreme isolation, environments that simulate the conditions humans will face on other planets. Israel spent decades building infrastructure in the Negev for national development reasons. That infrastructure now happens to be exactly what the global space industry desperately needs and cannot replicate elsewhere.
Space City isn’t a metaphor. It’s national infrastructure designed for missions beyond Earth’s orbit, and every component serves a specific role in Israel’s deep-space strategy.
The mission control facilities being built can monitor and control deep-space missions — payloads going to the Moon, Mars, and beyond. Most countries can track satellites in Earth orbit. Deep-space mission control, the capability to run missions beyond Earth’s orbit, exists in maybe five countries globally. Israel is building it in the Negev, creating infrastructure that will serve both Israeli missions and international partners who need that capability.
The Mars analog laboratories, developed in partnership with NVIDIA, combine physical testing in Mars-like terrain with advanced digital simulation. This is where the NVIDIA partnership becomes critical. NVIDIA isn’t just a technology company. They’re the global leader in AI and robotics infrastructure, with 5,000 employees in Israel generating over $30 billion annually in revenue from their Israeli R&D centers. When NVIDIA calls Israel their “second home,” they’re not being sentimental. They’re describing strategic reality.
Through the partnership, Space City gains access to NVIDIA’s Physical AI and Robotics experts, development tools, training programs, and AI infrastructure. Startups testing robotics for Mars missions get direct consultation from engineers who build the systems that power autonomous vehicles and industrial robots worldwide. Technologies validated in Ramon Crater simulations can be refined using NVIDIA’s digital platforms, creating a development cycle that doesn’t exist anywhere else: physical Mars-analog testing combined with the most advanced AI simulation capabilities in the world.
The EXPAND accelerator program, currently in its third cohort, operates on a precise investment model: Each selected company receives $600,000 ($300,000 from CreationsVC matched by $300,000 from the Israeli Innovation Authority). Over three months, companies work with mentors from NASA, the space industry, and now NVIDIA’s AI experts, developing what is known as “dual-value” technologies: solutions that work on Earth today and scale to deep-space applications tomorrow.
That dual-value model is the key to everything Space City is building. The technologies aren’t theoretical. They’re commercial products generating revenue now, with clear paths to deep-space applications when the market matures. Which, based on NASA’s Artemis timeline, is happening faster than most people realize.
Top Shot features the photo with the most votes from the previous day’s Daily Dozen, 12 photos selected by the Your Shot editors. The photo our community has voted as their favorite is showcased on the @natgeoyourshot Instagram account. Click here to vote for tomorrow’s Top Shot.
Your Shot photographer Nachum Weiss documented a Nubian ibex mother as she shows affection to her calf in the Negev desert near Mitzpe Ramon, Israel. Photograph by Nachum Weiss
