The first privately funded trip to the moon is about to start

Update: the SpaceIL lander was launched and successfully implemented on February 21 at 8:45 PM. aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. The expected arrival on the lunar surface is April 2019.

More than 10 years ago, Google and X Prize offered a prize of $ 20 million for the first non-governmental organization to complete a lunar mission. A little less than a year after the competition ended without a winner, a former competitor seems to be trying. If everything goes according to plan, the Israel-based organization SpaceIL will launch its moonlander, Beresheet, on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket tomorrow at 8:45 PM. US Eastern time from Cape Canaveral, Florida.

This article first appeared in The Airlock, our newsletter on space technology. You can sign up here – it’s free!

The lasting impact on the X price

SpaceIL

Since the Lunar X prize was launched in 2007, only four vehicles have successfully reached the moon. They were all funded by the government and only the two launched by China had the ability to dive on the surface of the moon – one of the criteria of the Lunar X prize (see “Why going back to the moon is so damn hard” ).

From March 31 last year, when the Lunar X prize was concluded, the money is not on the table. But many of the teams that participated continue. Although SpaceIL is the first to launch, at least five previous competitors have won start-up contracts to bring them to the moon within two years. Moon Express, the first of the teams to get the green light to launch, is aiming for 2020, and Astrobotic, which has already sold 13 spots during its first mission, will shoot for the first quarter of 2021. “If (SpaceIL) can land on the moon, it proves that non-governmental entities can do it, “Astrobotic CEO John Thornton told me.” It shows the world that our business case is so much more realistic. “

SPACEIL

The journey ahead

But SpaceIL has a long journey to go before it can claim success. About 30 minutes after launch, the spacecraft will disengage from the rocket and begin a 40-day trip to the moon. Two minutes after divorce, Beresheet will communicate for the first time with mission control in Israel.

In the following month, the spacecraft will perform a series of phase loops (elliptical orbits that slowly move farther away from Earth) until it can enter the orbit. It will then orbit around the moon for six days until it lands. The first landing opportunity is on 11 April. (If you want to know more about the trip, check out this great guide from the Planetary Society.)

The race for the fourth

Success would put Israel on the map as the fourth country to gently land a spacecraft – that is, a non-crash landing – on the lunar surface. “This mission is a source of inspiration for people around the world,” said Morris Kahn, president of SpaceIL, in a press release. “And we look forward to writing history and watching while the Israeli flag joins the moon with superpowers Russia, China and the United States.”

Sign up for The airlock – your gateway to the future of space technology

That is, if it is on time.

One of the disadvantages of being a private organization is that SpaceIL does not have its own rocket and it is not even the biggest customer for this launch. It is actually a lift next to the primary cargo, the Indonesian telecommunications satellite Nusantara Satu. “In the days of Apollo, they came on the moon within two days, but it takes us about a month and a half,” SpaceIL co-founder Yonatan Winetraub told NBC News. “That’s what it’s like if you don’t want to pay the full price.”

But do you know who has a rocket? India. And India plans to launch its Chandrayaan-2-moon mission mid-April and take a much faster route to the surface of the moon. Depending on when the launch will take place, there is a chance that India could pass the Israeli vessel while doing its umpteenth phase of the loop and take fourth place right under its robber wheels. Of course it is not half bad to be fifth, and it is a great achievement, regardless of who comes first. But it will be a little time-consuming for India – whose mission has been delayed three times – if it matters. I mean, fourth.