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This morning, SpaceIL, together with Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), announced that the first Israeli spacecraft to land on the moon, "Beresheet", would be launched Friday morning. After a seven-week trip, the probe is expected to land on the moon in April.
This is the first time that such a small country sends a spaceship to the moon and that such an enterprise is not a government project, but a mission whose mission is to found an organization in non-profit. The countries that have so far posed a spaceship on the moon are the United States, the Soviet Union and China.
Bereshit was originally scheduled to land on the moon on Feb. 13, but the launch was postponed due to constraints imposed by launch company SpaceX. At a press conference held this morning, SpaceIL chairman Morris Kahn revealed that the current launch date was also threatened due to the closure of the US government, which made it difficult obtaining the transfer permit for the spacecraft in Cape Canaveral, Florida, from where it will be launched.
The Israeli spacecraft will be the smallest to land on the Moon: a meter and a half in height, two meters in diameter, carrying fuel representing 75% of its weight, or 600 kg. When he lands, he weighs 180 kilograms.
The spacecraft is also unique because of its low redundancy – it does not have a backup system for its various components, as is common in space missions, making it lighter and less expensive to build.
The spaceship will launch at 3:45. After 30 minutes, it will separate from the launcher and will be independent in the space. An hour after launch, the satellite will go into cruise mode and begin orbiting the earth. It will eventually enter lunar orbit and is expected to land on the moon on April 11th.
At today's press conference, it was also announced that the NASA official had gone to Israel, inspected the satellite and signed a cooperation agreement with SpaceIL by l & rsquo; Through the Israeli Space Agency. This agreement has reduced the risks for the satellite en route to the moon. NASA will allow SpaceIL to use its systems to communicate with the spacecraft and has installed a telemetry reflector to locate its position more easily.
SpaceIL was founded in 2011 by three engineers: Yariv Bash, Kfir Damari and Yonatan Winetraub. Their goal was to promote science education in Israel. The construction of the spacecraft began two years later at IAI.
The non-profit organization originally hoped to win the Lunar XPRIZE offered by Google for the first lunar landing financed by private funds, and even reached the final stage, but ultimately did not respected the schedule and the competition has ended without winner. Despite this, and despite the fear that its activity will end for lack of funds, SpaceIL continued its efforts to bring Israel into the exclusive club of countries that have reached the moon.
Posted by Globes, Economic News in Israel – www.globes.co.il – 18 February 2019
© Copyright Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2019
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