Israel plans its launch of the first moon in December

An Israeli organization announced Tuesday its intention to launch the country's first spacecraft on the moon in December, in hopes of smoothing Israel's reputation as a small nation with high-tech ambitions from another world. weighing some 585 kilograms (1,300 pounds) at launch, it will land on the moon on February 13, 2019 if all goes as planned, said SpaceIL organizers at a press conference in Yehud, at the center. Israel

The rocket of the SpaceX company of the American entrepreneur Elon Musk and his mission will include research on the magnetic field of the moon.

His first task, however, will be to plant an Israeli flag on the moon, according to the organizers.

Part of the Google Lunar XPrize, which offered in 2010 $ 30 million (25 million euros) in rewards to encourage scientists and entrepreneurs to offer relatively inexpensive moon missions.

Yariv Bash, Kfir Damari and Yonatan Winetraub, decided to join the fray

"We met in a pub and we began to discuss what it meant," says Damari

. Israel Aerospace Industries, considering a very small craft that they thought could land on the moon in 2013.

"As we went further in the project and more people joined, we understood its complexity" said Damari. Google's price expired in March without a winner having reached the moon, the Israel team is committed to moving forward.

A key figure to board the project was Morris Kahn, an Israeli billionaire of South African descent, who heard SpaceIL present his "I thought it was a good idea," at-a-glance. he says, "and I asked them," Do you have money? ""

"They had not really thought about the financial side," Kahn said, relaying how he gave them an initial grant of $ 100,000, with his growing support for the Kahn project, so that he would not be able to afford it. Israel has an interest in the moon alongside the three world powers already present – the United States, Russia and China – would be "a great achievement" "We are going to have a sense of pride that we really need."

– "Safeguard Plans & # 39; –

Yossi Weiss, the CEO of IAI, said that conquering space is not only a way to prove technological prowess, but also more and more urgently needed. a human race that quickly squanders its resources.

"We have to think of relief plans," said Weiss. "The Earth is getting small" and finally "the future of humanity is in the space".

While the planned landing of the small unmanned vessel is a small step towards this end, it is nonetheless a "very important" one.

On the moon, the ship will transmit the data to the IAI control center for two days before her systems are shut down.

It is hoped that the success of the mission will inspire scientific curiosity among Israeli youth. We are trying to replicate the Apollo effect in the United States, "said Kahn, referring to the US program that landed the first humans on the moon in 1969.

" If we continue to be the country of start-up »

But even before its launch, the module and its project have aroused great interest among children, according to Damari.

"They say kids are excited about space, robots and dinosaurs. We have a robotic spacecraft – "that's two out of three," he said

"When you meet school c"

"Even though they're not in the same place" do not occupy the space but enter another scientific or technical field, we realized the vision. "

Damari notes the turnaround that his project has created in the Israeli space industry, which s & # 39; Has been focused on security projects and satellite launches for a long time

"Since our beginnings, we have seen more and more start-ups and space projects. The relatively light Israeli project, which was not initiated or funded by the state, could also mark a change in the way space projects are interpreted and realized, paving the way for more private initiatives. "This will show the way to the rest of the world" to send a spacecraft to the moon at a reasonable cost, said Ofer Doron, chief of the IAI's space division.

Organizers hold a press conference in July 10, 2018 before the planned launch of Israel's first lunar spacecraft

Israeli billionaire investor Morris Kahn (C) poses with Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) director General Opher Doron Space Division (1st-R) at a press conference to announce the launch of a spacecraft on the moon

The Director of Space Aerospace Industries Opher Doron ( R) and billionaire investor Morris Kahn (2nd-R) present a spaceship at a press conference to announce his launch on the moon, in Yehud, central Israel