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YEHUD, Israel: An Israeli organization announced on Tuesday, July 10, the launch of the country's first spacecraft on the moon in December, in hopes of improving Israel's reputation as a nation. small nation with high tech ambitions from another world.
A unmanned, pod-shaped spacecraft weighing about 585 kg at launch, will land on the moon on February 13, 2019 if all goes as planned, said SpaceIL organizers at a press conference at Yehud, central Israel
The spacecraft will be launched by a rocket from the SpaceX firm of 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.
The project started as part of the Google Lunar XPrize, which offered US $ 30 million in 2010 to encourage scientists and entrepreneurs to offer relatively inexpensive lunar missions.
Scientists, Yariv Bash, Kfir Damari and Yonatan Winetraub, decided to join the fray
"We met in a pub and started discussing what it meant "
The organizers are organizing a press conference on July 10, 2018 before the planned launch of Israel's first lunar satellite. (Photo: AFP / Thomas Coex)
The trio formed SpaceIL and is associated with Israel Aerospace Industries, a public company, considering a very small craft that they thought could land on the moon. in 2013.
"Although the Google prize expired in March without a winner having reached the moon, the Israel team has committed to go from there. before "
. The project was directed by Morris Kahn, an Israeli billionaire born in South Africa, who heard SpaceIL present his project
"I thought it was a good idea," he said, "and I asked them "They had not really thought about the financial side," said Kahn, recounting how he gave them an initial grant of $ 100,000, with his growing support for the project to largely cover the project. $ 95 million.
In Kahn, for Israel to have a stake on the moon alongside the three global pow The United States, Russia and China would already be "a tremendous achievement" that "we would give a sense of pride that we really need. "
" SAFEGUARD PLANS "
Yossi Weiss, CEO of IAI, said that conquering the space n & rsquo; Is not only a way to prove technological prowess, but also a need for more in more urgent of a human race that quickly squanders its resources. . "Earth becomes 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 remains 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. 19659002] "We try to reproduce the Apollo effect in the United States," said Kahn, referring to the American program that landed the first humans on the moon in 1969.
"If we continue to be the start »
But even before its launch, the pod and its project aroused great interest among the children, according to Damari.
" They say that children are excited about space, robots and animals. dinosaurs, we have a robotic spacecraft – that's two out of three, "he said. Morris Kahn (C) poses with Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) Space “/>
The Israeli investor Morris Kahn (center) poses with the General Manager of Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) Opher Doron's Space Division (right) at a press conference launching a spacecraft to the moon. (Photo: AFP / Thomas Coex)
"When you meet schoolchildren and you talk to them about the project, you can see the spark in their eye." Even though they do not deal with space but go into another "
Damari noted the change that his project has created in the Israeli space industry, which has concentrated on security related projects and has long launched satellite launches.
we started seeing more and more start-ups and projects that deal with space in the civilian aspect, "he said.
The relatively thin Israeli project, which was not initiated or funded by the state in the way projects related to space are interpreted and carried out, paving the way for initiatives more private.
"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, head of IAI's space division.
