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Israel launches its first lunar space mission in December, a small-scale organization of this country announced Tuesday (10) with great ambitions.
The still anonymous spacecraft, capsule-shaped and weighing 585 kilograms at launch, will land on the Moon on February 13, 2019 if all goes as planned, SpaceIL organizers said at the launch. A meeting with the
But the first task is to put the Israeli flag on the moon, said the scientists.
The project started as part of the Google Lunar XPrize technology competition, which offered $ 30 million to stimulate scientists and entrepreneurs to offer Moon missions at a relatively low cost. Israel, later known as SpaceIL, decided to adopt this goal and eventually partnered with Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI).
The Google price expired in March, no one having been able to travel to the moon, but the Israeli team is committed to going forward.
This private initiative could cost about $ 95 million, largely funded by "This will show the rest of the world how to send a lunar spacecraft at a reasonable cost," said Ofer Doron on behalf of IAI
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