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SpaceIL co-founders Kfir Damari (left), Yonatan Weintraub (right) and Yariv Bash (right) make a selfie in front of a model of the Beresheet probe near the control room in Yahud, Israel. April 11, 2019.
(photo credit: AMIR COHEN / REUTERS)
While SpaceIL's attempt to land the Beresheet probe on the Moon Thursday night has ended with disappointment, the nonprofit organization will receive a "Moonshot Award" of a million dollars from the part of the XPRIZE Foundation for its achievements.
Founded in 1995, XPRIZE, headquartered in California, designs global competitions to encourage the development of breakthroughs that accelerate humanity to a better future.
The Moonshot Award was created last month to reward teams demonstrating the achievement of an "out of the ordinary" technological feat outside the parameters or schedule of an XPRIZE contest, including the 30 million dollars. Google Lunar XPRIZE that led to the creation of SpaceIL.
"SpaceIL's mission has not only touched the moon, it has also touched the life and heart of a whole world watching," said Peter Diamandis, Founder and Executive Chairman of XPRIZE.
"The legacy that SpaceIL will leave in the future of the space industry is considerable." The ability of this team to build a lunar lander for $ 100 million and fewer than 50 engineers is remarkable, a leap forward to affordable and accessible space exploration Congratulations to Morris Kahn, their main benefactor and the entire SpaceIL team for all their accomplishments – we are very proud of it. "
XPRIZE said that the successful entry of Beresheet on the lunar orbit and its attempt at landing on the lunar surface, the first carried out by a privately funded entity, marked "a new era for space exploration. "
Millions of people around the world connected on Thursday to watch the spacecraft, an ambitious project developed by SpaceIL in collaboration with Israel Aerospace Industries, descending on the Serenitatis Mare (Sea of Serenity) of the Moon while the state Israel was looking to become the fourth member of a club of prestigious nations to carry out the daunting task of landing a spacecraft on the lunar surface.
SpaceIL lost contact with the satellite just minutes before the end of its historic landing – a feat that only the United States, Russia (then the USSR) and China – had accomplished – after six and a half million epic kilometers, for seven weeks. voyage since Beresheet took off from Cape Canaveral, Florida aboard a SpaceX rocket on 22 February.
Once in the descent position, the landing maneuver – divided into two phases of decreasing and then vertical horizontal speed – began but did not land after the loss of contact with the main engine of the aircraft. spacecraft, which resulted in a loss of altitude and a subsequent landing.
According to initial assessments, one of the inertial measurement units (IMU) of the satellite failed during the landing procedure. A full investigation to understand the causes of the accident will now begin.
"To showcase the passion and perseverance of the team, we are presenting this $ 1 million Moonshot Award to the SpaceIL team at our annual Visioneering Summit in October 2019, in the United States. Hope that they will use these funds as seed money for their educational action or Beresheet 2.0, a second attempt to fulfill its mission, "said Anousheh Ansari, CEO of XPRIZE.
"We are very proud and honored to have served as a catalyst for this mission, not only to continue exploring the private space, but also to increase access to education, career opportunities and role models. this area, which is quite in line with the values of the XPRIZE foundation. "
According to the foundation, the Future Moonshot Awards will be considered in other areas, recognizing literal and figurative moonshots.
Israeli motivation to encourage new generations to pursue scientific studies, the Israeli version of the "Apollo effect", has remained constant since the creation of SpaceIL, eight years ago, by Yehonatan Weintraub, Yariv Bash and Kfir Damari.
S addressing reporters after the unsuccessful landing, Weintraub did not speak of disappointment, but of the importance of education.
"I want to address children who might be watching Yes, we have not reached the moon at one time, but engineering and science are difficult," he said.
"Sometimes it does not work the first, second, third or even fourth time, but eventually it will work.I want to encourage you to continue your engineering and science studies, because one day you will reach the moon, stars and beyond. "
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