Source:
https://scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/2186706/israel-launch-first-private-mission-moon-week Middle East
Israel to launch first private mission to the moon this week
- The probe ‘Beresheet’ will be propelled by a SpaceX Falcon rocket launched from Florida and spend several months travelling to the moon
Israeli President Reuven Rivlin (second from left) and members of the SpaceIL team look at a model of a spacecraft during a meeting in Jerusalem in October 2015. Photo: Reuters
A Israeli charity consortium said on Monday it hopes to make history this week by launching the first private spacecraft to land on the moon.
SpaceIL and state-owned Israel Aerospace Industries told reporters on Monday that the landing craft, dubbed Beresheet, or Genesis, will be propelled by a SpaceX Falcon rocket launched from Florida and commence its months-long voyage to the moon.
The launch is expected late on Thursday. It was originally slated for last December.
SpaceIL CEO Ido Anteby and Opher Doron, general manager of the IAI’s space division, said the spacecraft will catapult around the Earth at least six times to reach the moon and land on its surface on April 11.
If the SpaceIL mission is successful, Israel will become the fourth country to land a spacecraft on the moon, after the Soviet Union, United States and China.
SpaceIL has tried to drum up public excitement for the lunar mission in Israel in recent months, visiting classrooms around the country and sponsoring television advertisements that put Israel on par with global powers.
The small craft, roughly the size of a washing machine, is equipped with instruments to measure the moon’s magnetic field, as well as a copy of the Bible microscopically etched on a small metal disc.
Israel’s space programme chief Avi Blasberger said he hopes SpaceIL will create a “Beresheet effect” in Israel, akin to the Apollo effect, to promote science among a new generation.
SpaceIL was founded in 2011 and originally competed for Google’s Lunar Xprize, which challenged private companies to try to land a robotic spacecraft on the moon. But the US$20 million competition was scrapped by the tech giant last year when it became clear none of the five companies would meet the deadline.
The SpaceIL project has ballooned in cost over the years to around US$100 million, financed largely by South African-Israeli billionaire Morris Kahn and other donors from around the world.
Kahn said he believes that “every Jew, not only every Israeli, will remember where he was when Israel landed on the moon”.