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Artist's view of the Beresheet probe on the lunar surface.
(SpaceIL)
Israel is about to embark on a historic mission of laying a spacecraft on the surface of the moon.
The unmanned Beresheet spacecraft will be launched from Cape Canaveral Air Base atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket later this week. Beresheet, which is the Hebrew word for "begin," is expected to reach the moon on April 4.
SpaceIL, an Israeli non-profit organization, and Israel Aerospace Industries, a state-owned company, told reporters on Monday that the launch is scheduled for 20:45. AND Thursday. The launch was originally scheduled for last December.
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The spacecraft will take Israel into a select group of nations. Only three countries – the United States, the Soviet Union and China – have made "soft landings" on the lunar surface. An Indian impact probe was intentionally struck by the Moon in 2008. The following year, the Japanese spacecraft Kaguya was tasked with striking the lunar surface.
A Beresheet rendering leading his scientific mission of measuring the magnetic field of the Moon.
(SpaceIL)
Beresheet will also be the first private mission to reach Earth's natural satellite.
The spacecraft was born from the Google Lunar XPRIZE competition to pose an unmanned probe on the moon. The $ 30 million competition was dropped without a winner last year after organizers announced that none of the five finalists would reach the March 31, 2018 deadline for Moon's launch. announced Space.com.
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Nevertheless, the Israeli team has continued the development of its 397-pound spacecraft and this week's launch from SpaceX Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) is attracting much interest.
After two months of travel, the probe will land at Mare Serenitatis, in the northern hemisphere of the Moon. SpaceIL notes that the site has magnetic anomalies, which allows the Beresheet magnetometer device to take measurements as part of a scientific experiment. Magnetometer data, developed with the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel, will be shared with NASA.
In addition to its scientific mission, Beresheet will also take a time capsule to the moon. Consisting of three disks, the data of the time capsule include symbols such as the Israeli flag and the national anthem of the country, "Hatikvah". Dictionaries in 27 languages are also included on the discs, as well as the Bible and a children's book inspired by the mission.
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Beresheet and its time capsule will remain indefinitely on the lunar surface.
(From left to right) Opher Doron, general manager of the IAI's space division; SpaceIL President Morris Kahn; and Ido Anteby, CEO of SpaceIL.
(Photo credit: Tomer Levi)
"The upcoming launch at Cape Canaveral and the lunar landing about two months later will be the culmination of eight years of hard work and dedication," SpaceIL President Morris Kahn said in a statement. "This mission is a source of inspiration for people around the world. We can not wait to get down to history and watch the Israeli flag join the superpowers of Russia, China and the United States. [the] Moon."
China became the first country to successfully land a probe on the other side of the moon when the LG Chang'e 4 reached the lunar surface on January 2nd.
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The United States is the only country to have placed astronauts on the moon, which was done recently in December 1972 during the Apollo 17 mission. Only 12 men, all Americans, have walked the lunar ground.
The Beresheet spacecraft, inside a temperature-controlled shipping container, was loaded into a cargo plane at the Israeli airport Ben Gurion and then was sent in Florida.
(Photo credit: Eliran Avital)
On July 20, 2019 marks the 50th anniversary of the historic Apollo 11, lunar landing and landing missions continue to fascinate.
Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin recently sold a checklist on the surface of the moon auctioned in New York for $ 62,500. At the same auction, three tiny moon rocks reported from space by the unmanned Soviet Luna-16 mission were sold for $ 855,000.
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December 21, 2018 also marked the 50th anniversary of the memorable launch of Apollo 8. During a series of historic lunar orbits, astronauts Frank Borman, Jim Lovell and NASA's Bill Anders became the first humans to see the dark side of the moon.
Associated Press contributed to this article. Follow James Rogers on Twitter @jamesjrogers
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