SpaceIL: the first private landing mission on the moon has been launched

The first private space mission to the Moon, carried by the Israeli SpaceIL, was successfully launched on 21 February 2019. The probe, called Bereshit, is expected to land in April on the visible side of the moon, making Israel the fourth country in history to achieve a moon landing.

The first Israeli probe to the Moon, and the first developed by a private organization, SpaceIL, began Thursday, February 21, 2019, its journey to the moon, where it must arrive in seven weeks to try to make Israel the fourth country to achieve a moon landing.

A Falcon 9 rocket from space company SpaceX flew safely from Cape Canaveral in Florida at around 20.45 (01.45 GMT Friday), a shot taken live from Israel in the middle of the night by many engineers and supporters of the mission, and by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who waved Israeli flags from the control center of the Israeli Aerospace Industries (IAI) aerospace company  , partner of the project.

Then, half an hour later, more than 750 kilometers above Africa and at a speed of 35,000 km / h, the second stage of the rocket deployed the probe, called Bereshit (Genesis, in Hebrew). She will perform several orbits elliptical around the Earth, which will serve as an impetus, with the help of its engine to take in a second time the direction of the Moon, where the landing is scheduled on 11 April. The rocket also carried an Indonesian satellite and a US Air Force satellite.

Objective: to be the first private probe to alun

"It's a big step for Israel, and it's a big step for Israeli technology," Mr. Netanyahu enthused, turning away the famous words of Neil Armstrong, the first man on the moon. "The real fuel of this machine is the boldness and genius of Israel," he said, and despite the size of Israel,  "we are giants. "

The initiative is private, promoted since 2010 by SpaceIL, a non-profit organization. But the project is an object of national pride in Israel, where it is repeated that only three nations have so far succeeded in alienating: the United States, Russia and China (only Americans have walked on the moon).

Initially, the project was to respond to the Google Lunar XPrize contest, which wanted to reward $ 30 million for the first private aircraft to land before March 2018. No one had reached it in time, but the SpaceIL team continued the mission and bought a secondary seat in SpaceX's rocket.

Originally planned at $ 10 million, the mission eventually cost 100, but  "it is the least expensive gear to attempt such a mission, " insists the IAI group. It is notably the businessman and philanthropist Morris Kahn who financed the development of the robot.

The moon landing itself is the main mission, even if a scientific instrument is carried away to measure the lunar magnetic field. Bereshit is designed to last only a few days. A capsule in the robot contains digital discs with children's drawings, songs, and images of Israeli symbols, memories of a Holocaust survivor, and a Bible.

Non-Israeli partners participated. SpaceIL will communicate with the probe using antennas from the  Swedish Space Corporation. The Nasa has made available its  Deep Space Network to return to Earth data Bereshit. The US Space Agency has also installed a laser retro-reflector on the robot to test the laser's potential for space navigation.

The new race for the Moon

The renewed interest in the Moon sometimes called the "eighth continent" of the Earth, is global, the year 2019 being particularly busy. China, which had filed its robot "Jade Bunny" in 2013, sent in January on its hidden side its Chang'e-4, and it plans other missions. India hopes to become the fifth lunar country in the spring with its Chandrayaan-2 mission, which will include a moon and a mobile robot. Japan plans to send a small lunar lander, called SLIM, to study a volcanic area by 2020-2021.

As for Americans, the return to the moon is now the official policy of NASA, according to the guidelines of President Donald Trump in 2017. To achieve this, the US space agency changes model and no longer wants to design the missions itself. It has launched tenders for the private space sector, in full swing in the United States. She would like to send pennants at the end of the year, but more likely in 2020.

NASA has also launched the project of a lunar orbit station, supposed to be completed in 2026, to serve the return of astronauts on lunar soil in 2028. The return to the Moon is seen as the preparation for sending humans on Mars, in the next decade at the earliest.

WHAT YOU MUST REMEMBER

• With the launch of a spacecraft on February 21, 2019, for the Moon, SpaceIL is well on its way to becoming the first private company to achieve a moon landing.
• SpaceIL is about to become the first private company to land on the moon!
• Article by Rémy Decourt, published on 07/02/2019

SpaceIL is about to become the first private company to land on the moon!

Fifty years after the Apollo missions, SpaceIL, a small Israeli company, is about to open a new chapter of the space conquest with the launch of Beresheet (Genesis in Hebrew), a  lunar lander. This lander originally planned to compete in the Google Lunar X Prize, has seen its development continue despite the cancellation of this prize. It will land on the sea of Serenity from where it will realize measurements of the lunar magnetic field.

While ArianeGroup and ESA are considering a mission to the Moon, launched by Ariane 6 over the next few years, the SpaceX Falcon 9 is about to launch the SpaceIL Technology lunar lander. This lander will embark as an auxiliary passenger on a scheduled commercial flight on February 18th.

Baptized  Beresheet (Genesis in Hebrew), this lander was one of the competitors in the Google Lunar X Prize contest, whose goal was to see, for the first time, a private company land on the moon. In March 2018, it was canceled because none of the five teams still in the running had been able to land on the Moon before the date set (March 31, 2018). Despite the cancellation of this competition, some of the competitors had decided to continue the development of their project, including the Israeli team SpaceIL.

Built with Israel Aerospace Industries, Beresheet is a high module of 1.5 meters, two meters wide for a launch mass of 585 kg including 400 kg of propellant. It must land on the moon two to two and a half months after its launch. A length of the journey may seem long astonishment while the distance of the Moon to the Earth in a straight line, is only a few days. But, to limit the propulsion of propellant, the lender will use the force of gravity from the Earth to set off for the Moon. It will perform three orbits around the Earth. Two other orbits around the Moon will be needed to break the craft and allow it to land at the planned location.
If successful, it will be not only the first Israeli spacecraft to land on the moon but also the very first private lender to land there. The lender will have a very short lifespan, only a few days, until the batteries run out.

Near Luna 21 and Apollo 17

Beresheet will land in the Sea of Serenity in which Luna 21 (January 1973) and Apollo 17 (December 1972) landed. This site was obviously not chosen at random. He is known for his magnetic anomalies that the only instrument on board the lander will measure. The other highlight of the mission will be the attempt to take off very briefly from the lunar soil. Not to leave the Moon and return to Earth, but to make a displacement of several tens of meters, even a few hundred. A joke inherited from the Google Lunar X Prize which provided for several objectives awarded financially including that of moving a distance of several tens of meters.

Beresheet will also ship two DVRs and an Arch disk containing digital files. They will include the Declaration of Independence and the National Anthem of Israel, songs in Hebrew, the Old Testament and Jewish prayer for a safe journey known as "Wayfarer's Prayer", paintings by Israeli children, Israeli literature and the flag, among others.