Eyes Over the Fault Line: How Israeli Satellites Track Earthquakes and Save Lives | Dr. Shimrit Maman

When the ground stops shaking, the most urgent question is: where are the people trapped? Dr. Shimrit Maman — Chair of the Israel Space Agency — reveals how Israeli satellites map earthquake zones from orbit, measure the ground shifting beneath our feet, and guide rescue teams to the hardest-hit areas in the critical hours when every minute saves lives. Trying to help all of humanity, most people are misinformed about Israel. 

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Transcript

Guest Dr. Shimrit Maman 0:00

Let's take a blackout scenario. Everything's down. Communication, electricity, we have no way to communicate. The one thing that would still be working would be satellites. We're shifting from governments to a way that we could use space on your cell phone. You could save yourself, your neighbors just by communicating better where you are, what is the emergency. And this is also to communicate with satellites directly. We use different technologies, optical, radar, digital elevation models that we create from these satellites. We use our satellite, our AI, our algorithms in order to have a better response. Not only the satellite data, but I could also use spatial data with social media to have everything interact together.

Host, Jennifer Weismann 1:00

Floods in Texas, earthquakes in Turkey, fires across the globe. Who shows up first with life-saving AI data? Israel. But most people have no idea the media has a huge blind spot when it comes to Israelis helping the world. Today we are speaking with Dr. Shimrid Maman. She is the first woman to head the Israeli Space Agency. Think NASA, but in Israel. She's a senior scientist at Ben Gurren University. She leads the Israeli UN Disaster Office. She represents Israel on the UN Space Committee. She serves as the vice chair of the International Astronautical Federation. Israel is not just responding to disasters after they happen, they're helping predict them before they strike. When the world needs eyes in the sky, this is where Dr. Maman comes in. Welcome. Thank you so much for having me, Jennifer. So every place on Earth can be mapped for disaster risk. What makes Israeli AI mapping prediction so unique? What's the magic here?

Guest Dr. Shimrit Maman 2:10

For us and the Israeli Space Agency and it's Bengal University of the Negev, we actually use Earth observation satellites in order to study the region. And it could be any place on Earth. We also work on other planets as well. And the thing is, is that we know that in the upcoming years, there's going to be a lot of disasters. They could be climate-related. Having over 60 years of Earth observation satellites and that archive of data, we could not only go to the past and study the patterns, we could also think forward and understand the risk just by preparing the maps in advance to what areas are prone to floods or how a drought for several years could yield in a really deadly fire. So studying those parameters really helps us prepare for the future. We are all about early warning systems. It's not just responding, but it's thinking in advance what we could be better prepared for.

Host, Jennifer Weismann 3:13

Give me an example of something that Israel did to help another country that had a natural disaster.

Guest Dr. Shimrit Maman 3:20

The devastating earthquake that occurred in Turkey and on the border of Syria. This was a deadly earthquake that took the life of over 60,000 people at once. Now, it's not just about sending the first responders, which we are very great at. Israel sent over 130 delegations. I'm talking about volunteers from all over the country and delegations coming out. What we did in that specific earthquake is not just have people on the ground, but we also used our satellites because of the vastness of the area. We used our satellites to take images. The satellite is always orbiting. We were able to be the first country taking these images of this devastating earthquake and distributing these images to all the first responders that were on the ground. It's not just about providing an image. We also have the pre-post analysis. We could compare this to an image we have at an earlier time before the earthquake has occurred. And we could really direct the first responders on the ground to that place. When such a deadly earthquake occurs, we don't have electricity, we don't have cell phones. These things take time. And it's freezing cold on the ground in February, snowing. You have to use every minute, and having that satellite take the entire image of a really large area reduces the time and saves life ad hoc.

Host, Jennifer Weismann 4:56

Does that pose an interesting situation with a country like Turkey who may not be friendly to Israel as we're seeing today? Or are they just grateful to have first responder help and save lives? How does that work?

Guest Dr. Shimrit Maman 5:11

For us, it's all about the greater good. And it doesn't matter what life it is, we're going to save it.

Host, Jennifer Weismann 5:17

Can you do the same thing with floods where you can map and then predict or at least help with the rescue efforts? Have you done that?

Guest Dr. Shimrit Maman 5:25

Yes, we have. We have a really big project in India that deals with floods and flush floods. These are two different things. Using our satellites, we have several technologies. It's not just about the pre-post mapping. It's usually for rapid damage assessment, and that's for the response. But we also have the stage of the preparedness before we get to the early warning systems. That's the stage that everybody wants to be in. That's the highest stage of alert. We use different technologies, optical, radar, digital elevation models that we create from these satellites. So we know the height of that specific flood, where it could get. And using different optical images, we also use shortwave infrared bands. These are spectral bands that you cannot detect with your eyes. We came up with different methodologies that not only predict how bad the flash flood would be according to discharge data, but also we know how to monitor it and know that even if we will have an additional precipitation and rainfall, extreme rainfall event, what would happen and what would be the extent of that flash flood, for example.

Host, Jennifer Weismann 6:40

So you are constantly analyzing the globe, looking at high-risk areas. Do you then communicate that with the countries may experience this disaster?

Guest Dr. Shimrit Maman 6:52

So I'm going to differentiate between operational everyday monitoring and research. We are taking that very logical baseline that we have to better prepare for. And we're not picky about the disaster. We know that when you're better prepared, then the response will be much better. And it's not just about saving lives, it's also about saving the damage and being prepared for the economy. Okay. It would cost us much less to be prepared than to respond.

Host, Jennifer Weismann 7:25

What would be an example of preparedness in an earthquake-prone area?

Guest Dr. Shimrit Maman 7:30

It would be how we could use space-based technology, even on a community level, to be better prepared. Let's take a blackout scenario. Everything's down, communication, electricity, we have no way to communicate. The one thing that would still be working would be satellites. And from those satellites, we could get several things. We could get your location.

Host, Jennifer Weismann 7:53

Are you saying if I have no cell service on this phone, I can directly connect to a satellite?

Guest Dr. Shimrit Maman 7:59

Yeah, you already have those capabilities embedded in your phone. What's up? That's probably not gonna work. But if you have to communicate to the first responders or to the hospital, and usually these events are always dealing with a blackout scenario, nothing works, no electricity, no communication, and this could be anything. It could be people injured, it could be a collapse of a building. Just think about the things you need to communicate with very little text and data. You have to be very precise with the message you provide. Most people are really not aware of the space-based technologies that are available for emergency response.

Host, Jennifer Weismann 8:39

Is there some kind of mode you have to switch your phone into to get the satellite part to work?

Guest Dr. Shimrit Maman 8:44

Yes, it is an emergency mode. But you have to understand that from your phone, you could still get the coordinates using these satellites, even if you don't have cell reception.

Host, Jennifer Weismann 8:54

It's absolutely incredible. 60 years of Israeli mapping and satellite development is incredible. When you work with the UN, I know that the UN has had a lot of friction with Israel over the years. Have you experienced any of that? Or are you in such a very unique scenario where in your committees everybody wants to just help each other? How does that work working together?

Guest Dr. Shimrit Maman 9:17

The UN is a really big organization. It's all about people. I'm part of the United Nations Office of Outer Space Affairs. They have a committee that is called COPUS. And everything that is related in that specific committee is how we use space for peaceful uses. And under that office, we have a really great initiative that is called UN Spider, which is the United Nations space-based platform information for disaster management and emergency response.

Host, Jennifer Weismann 9:46

That's a mouthful.

Guest Dr. Shimrit Maman 9:47

I know. And it took me years to say that. And we develop these algorithms for early warning systems, and we develop all kinds of technologies using everything is space-based, is just how we use our satellite, our AI, our algorithms in order to have a better response, to be better prepared, also to map the risks. We do have a shift, and this is a really exciting era because of AI technology, that AI is enabling us to do an integration of a lot of things. So, for example, it's how I could use not only the satellite data, but I could also use spatial data with social media to have everything interact together. So I could now just use social media to check in safe in case of an emergency. And that would be a baseline for me to take and say, hey, I know this person doesn't need my help because they already checked in safe, and I know their location based on that great navigation system that is in space.

Host, Jennifer Weismann 10:53

Israel is just so teeny teeny weeny tiny in terms of geography. Why do you think Israel has such an outsized influence?

Guest Dr. Shimrit Maman 11:03

First of all, it's because our innovation. We do have state-of-the-art science and technology. Our scientists are brilliant, our technology is great. We're always the country that enters disasters and always grows stronger from them. We are challenged constantly, but we see this challenge as an opportunity, and everything we do and every algorithm we develop, it's for the greater good and for all humankind. When we talk about satellite technologies and in general, it's not just about the components that are on the satellite. And we have different components on different satellites, from cameras, or if it's the codings, or if it's materials we're developing, or if it's software that we're using in order to do all those integrations with the systems. There's a lot of different components that you don't even realize that are Israeli. And we also have things that are on the rovers on Mars. Okay, we go that far. It is the spirit and that spirit of innovation that is embedded in all those technologies because Israelis do dream big, and that's how we got to the moon. We have spacecrafts now with Israeli technologies and Israeli scientists working on their way to Jupiter. We always have different perspectives. We're constantly being challenged. We always dream big, we always act internationally, and we do see that emphasis and that impact that has on the world.

Host, Jennifer Weismann 12:34

Israel is so misunderstood in the world. And unfortunately, the media reflects not the true reality of Israelis. And specifically, Israel has a very, very high moral standard when you talk about going to Turkey and going to places that may not even recognize Israel or maybe publicly speaks against Israel. And you go in anyhow. Israelis are always first on scene, helping. Aside from Takun Alam, what's the reason?

Guest Dr. Shimrit Maman 13:05

We do believe in the greater good. We do believe in humanity. It is in our tradition to help. It's always been our story. One more question about space and satellite. What do you see in five years? What do you think is the most craziest idea right now? I don't think there's crazy ideas when going to space. I think there's bold ideas. It's about taking the next leap forward. And this is something we're really good at.

Host, Jennifer Weismann 13:35

Okay. So let's talk about being bold. How do you shift from large government, space-based, to how space can help the end user, the single person in a community?

Guest Dr. Shimrit Maman 13:48

One of the things that we've been witnessing for the past 30 years is that we're shifting from a point that governments and very large states and high-tech companies are using space to a way that we could use space on your cell phone. And that could be used for an emergency response. You could save yourself, your neighbors just by communicating better where you are, what is the emergency. And this is also to communicate with satellites directly. My cell phone can communicate with a satellite without cell service. Most phones have that ability embedded within them.

Host, Jennifer Weismann 14:32

How come we don't know about that? So you have that option to directly communicate with the satellites. It's just you go to your settings and you could directly connect to satellites. You could also communicate where you are using the navigation satellites. In a sentence, tell me again why Israel, a country the size of New Jersey, has such an outsize influence in the world of space.

Guest Dr. Shimrit Maman 14:59

A lot of things come from necessity, but we dare to challenge that necessity and take it one step further and do things for the greater good. It's not just about being the best with your technology. It's also about an holistic approach that we already understand that even if we build our satellite for a specific purpose, we could do so much more, especially in this AI era. And that integration takes us one leap forward and we always stay in advance. We must.

Host, Jennifer Weismann 15:36

Dr. Mamam, thank you for what Israel does to help the world in natural disaster reaction and preparedness. I'm Jennifer Weissman, and this is the Israeli Trailblazers Show. If this episode amazed you, please share it with a friend. Please post it on all of your socials. Hit subscribe because stories like this deserve to be told, and the media often doesn't. So we will. Until next time.