Israel aims to launch Moon Lander in December

Israel's first ever lunar mission will be launched before the end of the year If the case goes ahead as planned, the non-profit SpaceILIL and the Israeli company Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) announced Tuesday, July 10th that they had the ## 147 ## 39; intention to launch a lunar landing robotic mission at the top of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket in Florida. this December.

The robot will then attempt a landing on the moon on February 13, 2019. [Moon Master: An Easy Quiz for Lunatics]

Secondary payload

The spacecraft will be launched as a secondary payload from Cape Canaveral. It will begin to orbit around the Earth on an elliptical path. Then, at the receipt of a mission control order, the craft will enter a high-altitude elliptical orbit around our planet, which will reach a point near the moon, said members of the project team

. its engines enter a phase of orbiting the moon before attempting a lunar landing. This process will be executed autonomously by the spacecraft navigation control system, said members of the project team.

The entire journey, from launch to landing, will last about two months

the United States and China – to put a gear on the surface of the moon.

The Israeli spacecraft would be the lightest ever to land on the moon, weighing only 1,322 pounds. (600 kilograms)

Continuation of the mission

SpaceIL was the only Israeli competitor in the Google Lunar X Prize (GLXP) international competition, offered a prize of $ 20 million to the first privately funded team to pose a robot on the moon , move it to at least 1,650 feet and have him send high definition photos and videos to Earth.

The contest officially ended on March 31 with no winners, with Google announcing that he would no longer sponsor it.

But SpaceIL continued to work on its lunar mission. About $ 88 million has been invested in the development and construction of spacecraft, mostly from private donors, said members of the project team

Several other former competitors of the GLXP also maintained their lunar projects, including the American companies Moon Express and Astrobotic. 19659005] Leonard David is the author of "Mars: Our Future on the Red Planet", published by National Geographic. The book is a companion to the series of the National Geographic channel "Mars". A long-time writer for Space.com, David has been reporting on the space industry for more than five decades. Follow us on @Spacedotcom Facebook or Google+. This version of the article was published on Space.com