Israel launches a probe to the moon for the first time on the night from Thursday to Friday, the Israeli organization SpaceIL announced it today.
The intention is that on Friday, from Cape Canaveral in Florida, a Falcon-9 launcher from the American rocket builder SpaceX will depart, swing the Beresheet to the moon. The landing of the probe is scheduled for 11 April. If it succeeds, after the US, Russia and China superpowers, the Jewish state will become the fourth country that manages to make a spaceship a soft landing on Earth’s natural satellite.
Money
The unmanned probe weighs 585 kilos and is one and a half meters high. The idea is to set an Israeli flag on the moon and examines the magnetic field.
The construction of the lunar explorer has cost 95 million USD. Above all, the money came from private investors, such as the Israeli billionaire Morris Kahn. SpaceIL also receives support from the Israeli Space Agency (ISA) and Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI).
“The landing will fulfill a dream of the Jewish state,” said Kahn, who is also chairman of SpaceIL.
