Posted on 07/10/2018 3:12:08 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
The unmanned spacecraft, shaped like a pod and weighing some 585 kilogrammes (1,300 pounds) at launch, will land on the moon on February 13, 2019 if all goes according to plan, organisers SpaceIL told a news conference in Yehud, central Israel.
The vessel will be launched via a rocket from American entrepreneur Elon Musk's SpaceX firm and its mission will include research on the moon's magnetic field.
Its first task, however, will be to plant an Israeli flag on the moon, organisers said.
The project began as part of the Google Lunar XPrize, which in 2010 offered $30 million (25 million euros) in awards to encourage scientists and entrepreneurs to come up with relatively low-cost moon missions.
Three young Israeli scientists, Yariv Bash, Kfir Damari and Yonatan Winetraub, decided to join the fray...
The trio formed SpaceIL and partnered with state-owned Israel Aerospace Industries, envisioning a very small craft they believed could land on the moon by 2013.
Although the Google prize expired in March without a winner having reached the moon, Israel's team pledged to push forward.
(Excerpt) Read more at phys.org ...
Send that to Mel Brooks and tell him to produce it already!
Ssssshhhhh!
:^) And thanks for pointing out the mission, I just had to hunt up a cleaner page for a source. :^)
Oops! Sorry! I will keep the secret about the IDF moon base and their long- range islamonazi -annihilator xyz mega- power beam weapons there -super secret and quiet from now on. Sorry sorry sorry
Should we let her live, but break her fingers?;^)
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.