SpaceIL (Israel)

Grey Havoc

Grey Havoc

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SpaceIL was originally one of the contenders in the abortive Google Lunar XPrize competition, but has continued work on it's lunar lander despite the competition lapsing last year.

https://www.space.com/43209-first-private-spacecraft-shoots-for-the-moon.html
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ORIGINAL CAPTION:
Art depicting SpaceIL's Beresheet Lander on the moon.

Credit: SpaceIL
 
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/02/22/israel-joins-rush-moon-first-lunar-lander-launched-elon-musks/
 
Flyaway said:
February 22, 2019
RELEASE 19-012

NASA Administrator Statement on Israeli Moon Mission
The following is a statement from NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine on Thursday’s launch of Israel’s first mission beyond Earth’s orbit. SpaceIL’s lander blasted off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, and now is on its way to becoming the first commercial lander to reach the Moon’s surface.

“Congratulations to SpaceIL and the Israel Space Agency. This is a historic step for all nations and commercial space as we look to extend our collaborations beyond low-Earth orbit and on to the Moon.

“In July, I was in Israel and was very impressed with their commitment to expanding their role in the world’s space community. As we better understand Israel’s capabilities and the innovative work of their private industry, we know they’ll be an even stronger international partner in the future, one vital to the success of extending commercial space to the Moon and eventually on to Mars and beyond. There are terrific opportunities awaiting Israel and all of us in advancing the space frontier.”

Learn more about this mission, and NASA’s role in it, at:

https://go.nasa.gov/2GWotTY

-end-


Press Contacts

Bettina Inclan
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1600
bettina.inclan@nasa.gov
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The complex mission profile of Beresheet on its journey from the Earth to the Moon.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_R4zk448oPs
 
https://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Israeli-spacecraft-Beresheet-takes-first-selfie-in-space-582512
http://www.moondaily.com/reports/Israels_first_spacecraft_to_moon_sends_selfie_999.html
 
XPRIZE to award $1 Million Moonshot Award to SpaceIL team for them to continue their work and pursue Beresheet 2.0. Space is hard!!!
@xprize

@TeamSpaceIL
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https://twitter.com/PeterDiamandis/status/1116429177778049024

Space is hard as they say.

Israel's Beresheet Spacecraft Crashes Into Moon During Landing Attempt

The robotic Beresheet spacecraft, built by SpaceIL and Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), aimed to become the first Israeli craft, and the first privately funded mission, ever to land softly on the moon. But the little robot couldn't quite make it, crashing into the gray dirt around 3:25 p.m. EDT (1925 GMT). Mission control lost communications with the spacecraft when it was about 489 feet (149 meters) above the moon's surface.

"We had a failure in the spacecraft; we unfortunately have not managed to land successfully," Opher Doron, the general manager of IAI, said during a live broadcast from mission control. "It's a tremendous achievement up 'til now."

"If at first you don't succeed, you try again," said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who watched Beresheet's landing attempt from SpaceIL's control center in Yehud, Israel.
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There could be thousands of tiny, almost indestructible creatures living on the Moon right now.

When Israel's private lunar lander Beresheet crashed onto the lunar surface, it was carrying a box full of tardigrades—microscopic creatures that are the only known living thing capable of surviving the extreme vacuum of outer space.

And Nova Spivack, founder of the Arch Mission Foundation, who paid to have the tardigrades on the spacecraft, has now told Wired magazine that he believes they survived.
Click to expand...

www.newsweek.com

Thousands of 'Indestructible' Tardigrades Could Be Living on the Moon

The tardigrades were part of a "lunar library" on board Beresheet—the first privately funded mission to the Moon.
www.newsweek.com www.newsweek.com
 
It looks like they’ve made more work for themselves going down down such a complex route here.
 
Flyaway said:
It looks like they’ve made more work for themselves going down down such a complex route here.
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Yeah, this doesn't seem wise. That's three spacecraft to design, build and test, and then integrate together. The integration of multiple spacecraft adds complexity because of things like radio interference, more interfaces, etc. They should just focus on perfecting their existing lander.
 
blackstar said:
Flyaway said:
It looks like they’ve made more work for themselves going down down such a complex route here.
Click to expand...

Yeah, this doesn't seem wise. That's three spacecraft to design, build and test, and then integrate together. The integration of multiple spacecraft adds complexity because of things like radio interference, more interfaces, etc. They should just focus on perfecting their existing lander.
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I really don’t know why, as you say, they just don’t use a perfected version of what they’ve already got. It looks like they are trying to run before they can walk.
 
Flyaway said:
I really don’t know why, as you say, they just don’t use a perfected version of what they’ve already got. It looks like they are trying to run before they can walk.
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I don't know either. But often the issue is that in order to raise money, you have to promise something exciting. So the team may have gone to the investors and said "We want to perfect our existing lander and successfully land on the Moon." And the investors may have said "Nah, that's boring. We need something bigger! Something that nobody else has done before. What else have you got?" And then the team says "Well... maybe we could land two landers on the Moon on the same mission... That's never been done before..."

The Russians have a version of this problem. They have lost all their experience and they really need to start with a simpler lunar mission to build up their skills and train their people who have never done a mission before. But the government wants things that have not been done by other countries. That's how they ended up with Phobos-Grunt, a mission that was way more complicated than the Russians could ever do. It's a psychology issue more than a management one.
 

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