Israel has the moon in its crosshairs. SpaceIL, a nonprofit competing in the Google Lunar X Prize competition, has booked a ticket to the moon using a SpaceX rocket. It is a huge moment for the Israeli space program as very few countries have made it to the surface of the moon.
The plan is for the SpaceX rocket to launch the lunar lander into Earth's lower orbit. The rocket will then ferry the spacecraft close to the moon. From there, the lunar lander will reach the moon on its own and hopefully make a soft landing, The Verge reported.
If the mission is successful, it will mark the first Israeli mission, as well as the very first private spaceflight mission, to reach the moon's surface. SpaceIL is the first group to book a private ride to the moon of all the 16 Lunar X Prize teams.
If successful, Israel will join an elite club of lunar explorers: the US, Russia, and China. Though many other countries have launched missions to the moon as orbiters, a soft landing on the surface is much, much harder to accomplish. The fact that it does not have an atmosphere means that oncoming spacecraft have no way of slowing their descent.
The sheer cost of missions like this have thus far limited them as government initiatives. The Google Lunar X Prize competition aims to change this with their financial incentives. Though X Prize funds projects which benefit humanity as a whole, the prize for the first team to make a soft-landing on the moon is $20 million. The second place will receive $5 million.
The competition challenges its participants to use technology and methodology that reduce the overall costs of spaceflight, Tech Times reported. Yasemin Denari Southworth, manager of cultural activation and partnerships, said in a Google blog post, "We kicked off this challenge in 2007 to foster innovation and entrepreneurship in space through low-cost, efficient access to the moon."
She adds, "But until now, all the tinkering has been on terra firma. SpaceIL's securing of a verified launch contract by the December 2015 deadline keeps the competition open to all Google Lunar XPRIZE teams, who now have until the end of 2016 to secure their own launch contracts to head to the moon by the end of 2017."
Check out SpaceIL's website here.
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