From the Columbia disaster to a colony on Mars: Gil Doron's battle for Israeli children's right to dream

Gil Doron, CEO of the Ramon Foundation, tells the Ma'ariv technology podcast how the Ramon family legacy became an educational enterprise reaching tens of thousands of children. He describes the challenge of restoring "the right to dream" to a young generation living in absolute realism following a pandemic and wars, and discusses foundation programs like "Team Ayr" to encourage girls toward flight school and experiments sent to the space station.

Gil Doron, CEO of the Ramon Foundation, was interviewed on the Ma'ariv technology podcast and told how the Ramon family legacy became a broad educational enterprise. The foundation, established by the late Rona Ramon after the Columbia space shuttle disaster, uses space as a tool for social change and reaches 22,000 children a year from all sectors of Israeli society. Doron described a worrying phenomenon of "absolute realism" among children, stemming from five to six years of global pandemic and wars. "They live in the moment because the future seems fragile to them," he said, adding that the foundation's mission is to shatter this realism and restore to children "the right to dream." Among the notable programs: "Team Ayr" (an acronym for Asaf, Ilan, Rona), which accompanies girls from 8th to 12th grade in Ofakim and Be'er Sheva with the goal of increasing the number of women in flight school. Doron explained that the problem is not a lack of desire but a lack of belief, and the foundation also works with the family and community to create a supportive environment. Doron also referred to the activities of SpaceX and Elon Musk, who he said gave NASA a kick, and to the Israeli companies "Aktar" and "Stemrad" that developed groundbreaking space technologies. He called for regulating the space sector in Israel through the enactment of an Israeli "Space Law," so as not to miss the economic and technological opportunities in the field.