Private-sector moon mission a first, and for Israel too

A rocket took off from Cape Canaveral yesterday carrying Israel’s Beresheet spacecraft, aiming to make history twice.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifts off from Cape Canaveral carrying Israel’s Beresheet spacecraft and an Indonesian satellite. Picture: AP

A rocket took off from Cape Canaveral yesterday carrying Israel’s Beresheet spacecraft, aiming to make history twice: as the first private-sector landing on the moon and the first from the Jewish state.

The 585kg Beresheet, which means “Genesis” in Hebrew, ­lifted off at 8.45pm on Thursday (12.45pm AEDT yesterday) atop a Falcon 9 rocket from the private US-based SpaceX company of ­entrepreneur Elon Musk.

Take-off was followed live in Israel, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu watching alongside engineers from the Israeli Aerospace ­Industries control ­centre.

The Israeli craft was placed in Earth’s orbit, from where it will use its own engine to undertake a seven-week trip to reach the moon and touch down on April 11.

The rocket also contains an ­Indonesian satellite and a satellite of the US Air Force Research ­Laboratory.

A digital ‘time capsule’ that will be left on the moon. Picture: AFP

The unmanned mission is part of renewed global interest in the moon and comes just months befor­e the 50th anniversary in July of American astronauts first walking on the lunar surface.

“This is history in the making — and it’s live! Israel is aiming for the #moon and you’re all invited to watch,” said a Twitter message from SpaceIL, the non-profit ­organisation that designed the ­Israeli craft. It was backed by business­man and philanthropist Morris Kahn, who financed the development of the craft. “Make us proud,” he said yesterday.

Entrepreneurs financed the mission, which was initially projected at $US10 million but grew to $US100m ($141m). Other partners are IAI and the Ministry of Science and Technology.

So far, only Russia, the US and China have made the 384,000km journey and landed spacecraft on the moon. China’s Chang’e-4 made the first-ever soft landing on the far side of the moon on January 3, after a probe sent by Beijing made a lunar landing elsewhere in 2013. Americans are the only ones to have walked on the surface, but have not been there since 1972.

The Beresheet lunar lander. Picture: AFP

For Israel, the landing itself is the main mission, but the spacecraft also carries a scientific instru­ment to measure the lunar magnetic field, which will help understanding of the moon’s formatio­n.

Technically, it is far from a trivial mission. After its initial boost from the Falcon 9, the Beresheet’s British engine will have to make several ignitions to place the spacecraft on the correct traject­ory to the moon. When it arrives, its landing gear must cushion the descent on to the surface to preven­t Beresheet crashing.

Beresheet carries a “time capsule­” loaded with digital files containing children’s drawings, Israeli songs, memories of a Holocaust survivor and the blue-and-white Israeli flag.

Its $US100m cost makes it “the lowest-budget spacecraft to ever undertake such a mission’’, IAI said. “The superpowers who manage­d to land a spacecraft on the moon have spent hundreds of millions of dollars in government funding. Beresheet is the first spacecraft to land on the moon as a result of a private ­initiative.”

After China earlier this year, and now Israel, India hopes to becom­e the fifth lunar country in the northern spring with its Chandray­aan-2 mission. It aims to put a craft with a rover on to the moon’s surface to collect data.

Japan plans to send a small lunar lander, called SLIM, to study a volcanic area either next year or in 2021.

AFP