An Israeli-built unmanned spacecraft is expected to land on the moon, has blasted off from Earth two months earlier, project managers said at a news conference Tuesday.
If all goes well, the SpaceIL spider-like craft will give Israel entry into the exclusive club of just three nations that have so far achieved a controlled landing on the moon’s surface.
The probe will be launched sometime in December from Cape Canaveral aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, officials said during the media event, held at an Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) space technology site in Yehud. It is scheduled to land on February 13, 2019.
“We will put the Israeli flag on the moon,” said Ido Anteby, CEO of SpaceIL.
“As soon as the spacecraft reaches the landing point it will be completely autonomous,” Anteby said. “The motor will break the craft and it will reach the ground at zero speed for a soft landing.”
The project began as part of the Google Lunar XPrize, which offered USD 30 million (25 million euros) in prizes to encourage scientists and entrepreneurs to come up with relatively low-cost moon missions.
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An Israeli team that later became known as SpaceIL decided to join the fray and eventually partnered with state-owned Israel Aerospace Industries.
The Google prize expired in March without a winner having reached the moon, but Israel’s team pledged to push forward.
The private initiative is expected to cost some USD 95 million, largely supported by Israeli billionaire Morris Kahn.
“It’s going to show the way for the rest of the world” to send a spacecraft to the moon at a reasonable cost, said IAI’s Ofer Doron.
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