Israel’s first Moon mission blasts off from Florida

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WASHINGTON: An unmanned rocket took off from Cape Canaveral in Florida carrying Israel’s Beresheet spacecraft, aiming to make history twice: as the first private-sector landing on the Moon, and the first from the Jewish state.

The 585-kilogramme Beresheet, which means ‘Genesis’ in Hebrew, lifted off at 8.45pm atop a Falcon 9 rocket from the private US-based SpaceX company of entrepreneur Elon Musk.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying Israel’s first spacecraft designed to land on the moon lifts off on the first privately-funded lunar mission at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Cape Canaveral, Florida. — Reuters photo

Take-off was followed live back in Israel, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu watching alongside engineers from the control center of Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI).

The Israeli craft was placed in Earth orbit, from where it will use its own engine to undertake a seven-week trip to reach the Moon and touch down on April 11 in a large plain.

The rocket also contains an Indonesian satellite and a satellite of the US Air Force Research Laboratory.

The mission is part of renewed global interest in the Moon, sometimes called the “eighth continent” of the Earth, and comes 50 years after American astronauts first walked on the lunar surface.

“This is history in the making – and it’s live! Israel is aiming for the #moon and you’re all invited to watch,” said a Twitter message from SpaceIL, the non-profit organisation that designed the Israeli craft.

It was backed notably by businessman and philanthropist Morris Kahn, who financed the development of a craft.

“Make us proud,” he said Thursday.

Entrepreneurs, not government space agencies, financed the mission, which was initially projected at US$10 million but eventually grew to US$100 million.

Other partners are IAI, Israel’s space agency its Ministry of Science and Technology.

So far, only Russia, the United States and China have made the 384,000-kilometre journey and landed spacecraft on the Moon.

China’s Chang’e-4 made the first-ever soft landing on the far side of the Moon on Jan 3, after a probe sent by Beijing made a Lunar landing elsewhere in 2013.

Americans are the only ones to have walked on the lunar surface, but have not been there since 1972.

For Israel, the landing itself is the main mission, but the spacecraft also carries a scientific instrument to measure the lunar magnetic field, which will help understanding of the Moon’s formation.

Technically, it is far from a trivial mission.

After its initial boost from the Falcon 9, the Beresheet’s British engine will have to make several ignitions to place the spacecraft on the correct trajectory to the Moon.

When it arrives, its landing gear must cushion the descent onto the lunar surface to prevent Beresheet from crashing.

Beresheet carries a ‘time capsule’ loaded with digital files containing a Bible, children’s drawings, Israeli songs, memories of a Holocaust survivor and the blue-and-white Israeli flag. — AFP