{"id":18160,"date":"2019-01-30T19:25:26","date_gmt":"2019-01-30T11:25:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/israeli-lunar-lander-passes-tests-in-preparation-for-spacex-launch-to-the-moon\/"},"modified":"2019-01-30T19:25:26","modified_gmt":"2019-01-30T11:25:26","slug":"israeli-lunar-lander-passes-tests-in-preparation-for-spacex-launch-to-the-moon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/israeli-lunar-lander-passes-tests-in-preparation-for-spacex-launch-to-the-moon\/","title":{"rendered":"Israeli lunar lander passes tests in preparation for SpaceX launch to the moon"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_477148\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-477148\" style=\"width: 630px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full-width wp-image-477148\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/190130-beresheet-630x620.jpg\" alt=\"Beresheet lander\" width=\"630\" height=\"620\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/190130-beresheet-630x620.jpg 630w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/190130-beresheet.jpg 642w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 630px) 100vw, 630px\"><figcaption data-nosnippet=\"\" id=\"caption-attachment-477148\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">SpaceIL\u2019s Beresheet lunar lander is suspended at a payload processing facility in Florida. (SpaceIL Photo via Twitter)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The managers of Israel\u2019s first mission to the moon say their lunar lander has passed a crucial set of tests in preparation for February\u2019s launch on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, with an assist from a Seattle space company.<\/p>\n<p>SpaceIL\u2019s lander&nbsp;\u2014 which has been dubbed Beresheet, the Hebrew word for \u201cIn the Beginning\u201d&nbsp;\u2014 is scheduled for liftoff from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida no earlier than Feb. 18.<\/p>\n<p>Mission success would make Israel the fourth nation to execute a soft landing on the moon, following in the footsteps of the United States, Russia and China.<\/p>\n<p>Spaceflight, the launch logistics subsidiary of Seattle-based Spaceflight Industries, brokered Beresheet\u2019s inclusion as a secondary payload on a mission that will send Indonesia\u2019s PSN-6 telecommunications satellite, also known as Nusantara Satu, toward geostationary orbit.<\/p>\n<p>SpaceIL gave a nod to Spaceflight today in a tweet reporting the completion of pre-launch tests at SpaceX\u2019s processing facility in Florida:<\/p>\n<p><iframe id=\"twitter-widget-0\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" allowtransparency=\"true\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" class=\"\" style=\"position: absolute; visibility: hidden; width: 0px; height: 0px; display: block; flex-grow: 1;\" title=\"X Post\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/embed\/Tweet.html?creatorScreenName=b0yle&amp;dnt=true&amp;embedId=twitter-widget-0&amp;features=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%3D%3D&amp;frame=false&amp;hideCard=false&amp;hideThread=false&amp;id=1090656461959688192&amp;lang=en&amp;origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.geekwire.com%2F2019%2Fisraeli-lunar-lander-passes-tests-preparation-spacex-launch-moon%2F&amp;sessionId=0c624c38510a14f8bcb216be92aa9a56383a062b&amp;siteScreenName=geekwire&amp;theme=light&amp;widgetsVersion=6a3ad42b224df%3A1778106238597&amp;width=550px\" data-tweet-id=\"1090656461959688192\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\" data-twitter-extracted-i1782801786094915487=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">News! SpaceIL\u2019s CEO Dr. Ido Anteby says, &#8220;The #SpaceIL team &amp; @ILAerospaceIAI have successfully completed the testing stage of the #spacecraft for refueling &amp; assembling the launcher\u2026. we are looking forward to the launch &amp; the challenging journey ahead\u2026&#8221;  \ud83d\udcf7@SpaceflightInc pic.twitter.com\/PjjWpdRSHh<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Israel To The Moon (@TeamSpaceIL) January 30, 2019<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><script async=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>The flight plan calls for the Beresheet spacecraft, PSN-6 and an undisclosed U.S. government satellite to be sent into geostationary transfer orbit. Beresheet would split off at an altitude of 60,000 kilometers (37,000 miles), while the other two satellites would settle into stable 36,000-kilometer-high (22,000-mile-high) orbits.<\/p>\n<p>Beresheet is designed to execute a series of looping orbits that will put 5.6 million miles on the spacecraft\u2019s odometer over the course of eight weeks, leading to its capture by the moon\u2019s gravitational field.<\/p>\n<p>The dishwasher-sized craft weighs a mere 400 pounds when empty, but it will be carrying twice that weight in fuel for maneuvers leading to a lunar landing in April.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur landing site is located somewhere between the landing sites of Apollo 15 and Apollo 17,\u201d Reuters quoted SpaceIL CEO Ido Anteby as saying. \u201cIt\u2019s a flat area. But still it has small craters and a lot of boulders.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The lander is carrying a high-resolution video camera system, a magnetometer to map the moon\u2019s magnetic field&nbsp;and a CD-sized \u201ctime capsule\u201d that contains digitized files of children\u2019s drawings, photographs and information about Israeli culture.<\/p>\n<p>SpaceIL is a nonprofit organization that was set up to pursue the now-expired Google Lunar X Prize. It\u2019s working on the Beresheet mission in collaboration with state-owned Israel Aerospace Industries.<\/p>\n<p>Israeli billionaire Morris Kahn is SpaceIL\u2019s president and main financial backer, providing $40 million for the project. Las Vegas billionaire Sheldon Adelson and his wife, Miriam, contributed another $24 million. Other backers of the nearly $100 million effort include philanthropists Lynn Schusterman, Steven and Nancy Grand, Sylvan Adams and Sami Sagol.<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"The Mission  (English Version)\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ou7vgMK4uDg?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen=\"\" data-ratio=\"0.5625\" data-width=\"800\" data-height=\"450\" style=\"display: block; margin: 0px; width: 800px; height: 450px;\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>Update for 11:30 a.m. PT Jan. 30:<\/strong> So what happens after \u201cIn the Beginning\u201d? This week, Israel Aerospace Industries signed a teaming agreement with German satellite manufacturer OHB System AG to provide a commercial lunar delivery service to the European Space Agency.<\/p>\n<p>The Lunar Surface Access Service would handle payloads weighing up to 150 kilograms (330 pounds), using derivatives of the Beresheet lunar lander built for SpaceIL.<\/p>\n<p>OHB has also partnered with Blue Origin, the Kent, Wash.-based space company founded by Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos, on a future moon mission that would use Blue Origin\u2019s significantly larger Blue Moon lander.<\/p>\n<p>NASA has identified nine other teams&nbsp;as its first commercial partners for robotic lunar deliveries, potentially beginning this year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>SpaceIL\u2019s Beresheet lunar lander is suspended at a payload processing facility in Florida. (SpaceIL Photo via Twitter) The managers of Israel\u2019s first mission to the moon say their lunar lander has passed a crucial set of tests in preparation for February\u2019s launch on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, with an assist from a Seattle space [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[479,2670,625,2340,2341,2700,316],"class_list":["post-18160","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-falcon-9","tag-google-lunar-x-prize","tag-moon","tag-spaceflight","tag-spaceflight-industries","tag-spaceil","tag-spacex"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18160"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18160"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18160\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18160"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18160"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18160"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}