Israel likely to resend spacecraft to moon after first mission failed
Israel aims to become the fourth country to manage a controlled lunar landing.
(Web Desk) – The aerospace company – following crash of the robot craft Beresheet on Thursday – said on Saturday that it would pursue a second mission with funds raised from private donors and the public.
Beresheet was built by non-profit SpaceIL and state-owned Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), however it crashed on its final descent and the mission was failed in Israel’s first moonshot.
Israel aims to become the fourth country to manage a controlled lunar landing.
"I have had time to think, over the weekend, about what happened, and given all of the encouragement I got, and the support from people all over the world I have come tonight to announce a new project - Beresheet 2," SpaceIL president and high-tech billionaire Morris Kahn told an Israel’s channel.
The maiden mission cost about $100 million, most of it donated from private donors like Kahn. He said in the interview that Israeli government participation amounted to about $3 million.
Private donors were already pledging funds for the new project, Kahn said, but he added that money should come from the public for "a project of the people of Israel".
"We will not rely on government support," he said.
The Beresheet 2 task force would convene on Sunday, he said: "We began something that we shall complete, and we will place our flag on the moon."
IAI said in a statement it would be happy to be part of further space missions in partnership with SpaceIL under Kahn’s leadership".
So far, only three nations have succeeded in carrying out a controlled landing on the lunar surface - the United States, the Soviet Union and China.
Launched from Cape Canaveral on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket two months ago, Beresheet - Hebrew for "Genesis" or "In the beginning" - would have been the first craft to land on the moon that was not the product of a government programme.
The Beresheet spacecraft, while approaching the moon crashed as its engine had stopped. Mission control managed to bring it back online after performing a system reset, but the probe had already lost too much altitude to shed the excessive speed.
When it contacted the surface, it was traveling at about 300MPH vertically, according to the final telemetry values.
Minutes before the crash, it snapped a selfie with the rapidly approaching Moon in the background. Shortly after that, it snapped the much closer photo at top.
