February 22, 2019 at 19:08Launched first Beresheet commercial lunar lander
The last moon landing was in December 1972, during the Apollo 17 mission, not counting the recent achievements of China. At that time, Elon Mask was only one year old, he lived in South Africa. Israel experienced the aftermath of the Munich massacre three months earlier, during which 11 members of its Olympic team were taken hostage and killed.
Today, the Israeli Beresheet lander was launched, the size of only a washing machine, which would circle around the Earth with larger loops until it was captured by lunar gravity and into orbit around the moon. Landing according to plan will take place on April 11 in the Sea of Tranquility.
The Beresheet mission for $ 100 million could not afford its own missile - even a small one - so the organizers chose the option of launching a passing load. This makes the journey a lot longer; The moon is now at a distance of almost 230,000 miles (370,000 kilometers).
“This is an Uber-style space exploration, so we’re somehow renting space on a rocket,” Vinetraub explained at a press conference ahead of the launch.
The communications satellite for Indonesia was the main cargo aboard the Falcon 9 rocket, which illuminated the sky during a night flight. But the Israeli lunar ship - the first not only for Israel, but also for commercial space - caused an unprecedented hype.
Israel seeks to become only the fourth country to successfully land on the moon, after Russia, the United States and China. A spaceship called Bereshit, Genesis Hebrew, בְּרֵאשִׁית,
or At the Beginning will take almost two months to reach the moon.
“We thought it was time for a change, and we want little Israel to be on the way to the moon,” said Jonathan Vinetraub, co-founder of the Israeli SpaceIL, a nonprofit organization behind these efforts.
The almost full and brightly shining moon beckoned to itself when it ascended in the eastern sky. According to SpaceIL, an hour after launch, Beresheet already sent data and successfully deployed its landing supports.
“We will continue to analyze the data, but the bottom line is that we are part of an exceptional group of countries that launched a spacecraft to the moon,” said Yigal Harel, head of the SpaceIL space program.
The Soviet Union was the first to land a spaceship on Earth’s satellite - Moon 2 in 1959. NASA followed him with its Ranger 4 in 1962. Last month, China became the first country to land on the far side of the moon.
The astronaut of the Apollo 11 crew Buzz Aldrin congratulated on the upcoming event on Thursday. NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstein did the same, calling it “a historic step for all nations and commercial space, as we strive to expand our collaboration beyond low Earth orbit to the moon.” NASA has a laser reflector aboard the Beresheet and offers its Deep Space network for communications.
“All the best @TeamSpaceIL, she’s leaving tonight on SpaceX # Falcon9 from Florida to the land that I once trampled on ... to the moon,” Aldrin tweeted.
The Beresheet mission was originally part of the Google Lunar XPrize contest and even prepared the final design before the contest ended. The competition itself ended last year without a winner. The Israeli team decided to continue working independently, with funds partially donated by the Israeli billionaire.
Operations on the lunar surface should last only two days. Beresheet will measure the magnetic field at the landing site and send back data and photos. The time capsule is on board the lander, which shows Israeli cosmonaut Ilan Ramon, who died on board the Columbia spacecraft in 2003, as well as a lunar library containing 30 million pages on disk from the American Arch Mission Foundation.
Video Broadcast Launch.
A source
Today, the Israeli Beresheet lander was launched, the size of only a washing machine, which would circle around the Earth with larger loops until it was captured by lunar gravity and into orbit around the moon. Landing according to plan will take place on April 11 in the Sea of Tranquility.
The Beresheet mission for $ 100 million could not afford its own missile - even a small one - so the organizers chose the option of launching a passing load. This makes the journey a lot longer; The moon is now at a distance of almost 230,000 miles (370,000 kilometers).
“This is an Uber-style space exploration, so we’re somehow renting space on a rocket,” Vinetraub explained at a press conference ahead of the launch.
The communications satellite for Indonesia was the main cargo aboard the Falcon 9 rocket, which illuminated the sky during a night flight. But the Israeli lunar ship - the first not only for Israel, but also for commercial space - caused an unprecedented hype.
Israel seeks to become only the fourth country to successfully land on the moon, after Russia, the United States and China. A spaceship called Bereshit, Genesis Hebrew, בְּרֵאשִׁית,
or At the Beginning will take almost two months to reach the moon.
“We thought it was time for a change, and we want little Israel to be on the way to the moon,” said Jonathan Vinetraub, co-founder of the Israeli SpaceIL, a nonprofit organization behind these efforts.
The almost full and brightly shining moon beckoned to itself when it ascended in the eastern sky. According to SpaceIL, an hour after launch, Beresheet already sent data and successfully deployed its landing supports.
“We will continue to analyze the data, but the bottom line is that we are part of an exceptional group of countries that launched a spacecraft to the moon,” said Yigal Harel, head of the SpaceIL space program.
The Soviet Union was the first to land a spaceship on Earth’s satellite - Moon 2 in 1959. NASA followed him with its Ranger 4 in 1962. Last month, China became the first country to land on the far side of the moon.
The astronaut of the Apollo 11 crew Buzz Aldrin congratulated on the upcoming event on Thursday. NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstein did the same, calling it “a historic step for all nations and commercial space, as we strive to expand our collaboration beyond low Earth orbit to the moon.” NASA has a laser reflector aboard the Beresheet and offers its Deep Space network for communications.
“All the best @TeamSpaceIL, she’s leaving tonight on SpaceX # Falcon9 from Florida to the land that I once trampled on ... to the moon,” Aldrin tweeted.
The Beresheet mission was originally part of the Google Lunar XPrize contest and even prepared the final design before the contest ended. The competition itself ended last year without a winner. The Israeli team decided to continue working independently, with funds partially donated by the Israeli billionaire.
Operations on the lunar surface should last only two days. Beresheet will measure the magnetic field at the landing site and send back data and photos. The time capsule is on board the lander, which shows Israeli cosmonaut Ilan Ramon, who died on board the Columbia spacecraft in 2003, as well as a lunar library containing 30 million pages on disk from the American Arch Mission Foundation.
Video Broadcast Launch.
A source