Israel wants to end the year to carry out a mission sent to the moon lander. For the country it will be the first such space mission. The project is a non-profit organization SpaceIL, as well as state concern Israel Aerospace Industries. About plans to send a lander to the moon, it was announced July 10. The launch of a robotic lander will be done with the help of rocket Falcon 9 SpaceX the American company in December.
It is expected that the robot will land on Earth on February 13, 2019. The spacecraft will be launched as a second payload carrier rocket Falcon 9. The start will be made from the spaceport at Cape Canaveral.
His journey to the moon robotic landing module will begin with a low elliptical orbit around the Earth. After a time, the unit will be released at a higher elliptical orbit around our planet, and then eventually reaches a point near the Moon, say project managers. Reaching the orbit of the moon landing module will start your engines and try to make a soft landing on the moon’s surface. The whole process of preparation and planting will be carried out in automatic mode navigation systems apparatus.
The entire journey from launch to landing will take about two months. If all goes well, Israel will become the fourth country – after Russia, USA and China, which will land your spacecraft on the lunar surface.
In addition, it is assumed that the Israeli spacecraft will be the lightest of the landing modules, carried out the landing on our satellite. Its weight is only 600 pounds.
SpaceIL was the only Israeli company that has managed to break into the international competition Google Lunar X Prize, the main prize which was $ 20 million. The objectives of the competition the participants had to create a spacecraft to send them to orbit the moon and take some pictures of it surface. The one who will do it first will get the main jackpot. Unfortunately, the competition officially ended without a winner March 31 of this year. Google has announced that it will no longer to Finance it.
Nevertheless SpaceIL has continued work on its space mission. The company managed to raise about $ 88 million financing for the construction and preparation of the spacecraft. The main financial contribution was made to various private investors.
Before the end of this year, Israel wants to send to the moon lander
Nikolai Khizhnyak