[ad_1]
Google Lunar XPRIZE competition last march, Israel's nonprofit SpaceIL announced plans to launch its unmanned module on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral in Florida in mid-December
If the module reaches the moon as expected on February 13, 2019, it will make history to the smallest and first privately funded unmanned spacecraft to land on the moon.
"Our mission was never about winning the prize money – $ 20 million would have been nice, "said SpaceIL CEO Ido Anteby. "It's about showing the next generation that is possible – what even if we small country can push the limits of imagination."
On July 10, SpaceIL gave the press its first look inside Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) MABAT Space facility in Yehud near Israel's airport, where the nonprofit organization collaborated with IAI for eight years to build the 1,322-pound (600-kilogram) spacecraft.
Until now, only three world superpowers – the United States, Russia, and China
Lacking the resources of those superpowers, SpaceIL turned to private donors to fund the project. SpaceIL was the first of 16 Google Lunar XPRIZE competitors to sign a launch contract and one of only five teams to reach the finals
Approximately $ 88 million was invested in the spacecraft's development and construction. SpaceIL President Morris Kahn has donated about $ 27 million to the effort and decision to proceed to the event.
"After eight challenging years, I am filled with pride that the first Israeli spacecraft, which is in its final construction and testing phases, will be making its way to the moon, "said Kahn. "I have experienced many challenges in my life, but this was the greatest challenge of all."
Kahn said the lunar launch "will fill Israel, in its 70th year, with pride. It is a national accomplishment that will be in the world's space map. "
The spacecraft's design and development process began in 2013, two years after Yariv Bash, Kfir Damari and Yonatan Winetraub founded SpaceIL and registered for the Google Lunar XPRIZE competition . Construction began at the IAI MABAT Plant last year
In the coming months, the Israeli spacecraft will undergo intensive tests and tests at IAI to prove that it can withstand the launch, flight and landing conditions, said Anteby. dimensions of the spacecraft are 1.5 meters (4.9 feet) high and 2 meters (6.5 feet) in diameter. The fuel will include some 75 percent of its total 600kg weight. It is a maximum speed of more than 10 kilometers per second (36,000 kilometers, or nearly 22,370 miles, per hour).
Anteby said the SpaceIL craft – bearing an Israeli flag – will disengage from the launch rocket at an altitude of 60,000 kilometers (37,282 miles) and will begin orbiting Earth in elliptical orbits. On the subject of a higher-altitude elliptical orbit around Earth, which will reach a point at the moon.
At this point, it will be ignored its engines and reduce its speed to allow the moon's gravity to capture it. It will then begin orbiting the moon, until the appropriate time to begin the landing process. This project will be carried out autonomously by the spacecraft's navigation control system.
SpaceIL's module is to take pictures and video of the landing site and measure the moon's magnetic field as part of a scientific experiment designed by Weizmann Institute researchers. The data will be transmitted to the IAI control room during the second day after the landing.
The program has always had a primary goal, aiming at encouraging Israeli children to choose science, technology, engineering and mathematics. With the help of a broad network of volunteers, SpaceIL has already made presentations to about 900,000 children nationwide.
For children from any country, SpaceIL introduced its Moon Kids en français, chock full of fun space.
IAI has been a full partner in the project from its inception. Over the years, additional partners from the private sector, government companies and academia have joined, including Weizmann Institute of Science; Israel Space Agency; the Ministry of Science, Technology and Space; Bezeq and others
IAI CEO Josef Weiss said he looks at the launch of the first Israeli spacecraft to the moon as an example of the amazing capabilities of the United States.
"The State of Israel, which is in the realm of space in its military activity, which is an engine of innovation, technology, education and groundbreaking around the world, "said Weiss.
(via Israel21c)
[Photo: Israel21c ]
[ad_2]
Source link
