MacMusic  |  PcMusic  |  440 Software  |  440 Forums  |  440TV  |  Zicos
spacecraft
Search

Israel Launches Spacecraft To the Moon

Friday February 22, 2019. 09:00 AM , from Slashdot
The first privately funded mission to land on the moon took one giant step forward this evening as an Israeli spacecraft blasted off from Cape Canaveral, Florida. '[I]f the mission is successful, it would make Israel the fourth country to land a spacecraft on the lunar surface -- after the U.S., the former Soviet Union and China,' reports NPR. From the report: The spacecraft launched with a Space X Falcon 9 rocket, according to SpaceIL's partner Israel Aerospace Industries. It detached from the reusable rocket, which returned to an off-shore platform. The spacecraft was to make several orbits around Earth, slowly getting closer to the moon. In a difficult maneuver, it was to pivot from orbiting Earth to orbiting the moon, and then eventually attempt a treacherous landing on the moon. The total journey will take several months, with a landing anticipated in mid-April. According to IAI, it would be the 'longest journey until landing on the moon, 6.5 million kilometers.'

[The spacecraft, which is called Beresheet (Hebrew for 'in the beginning'] is covered in gold-colored reflective coating. And as WMFE's Brendan Byrne reported, it's about the size of a kitchen table. It's carrying a digital time capsule which, according to The Jerusalem Post, contains 'drawings by Israeli children, the Bible, the national anthem, prayers, Israeli songs and a map of the State of Israel, among other cultural items.' The spacecraft is set to run experiments on the moon's surface -- in particular, SpaceIL says it will collaborate with the Weizmann Institute of Science and UCLA to 'take measurements of the Moon's mysterious magnetic field.'

Read more of this story at Slashdot.
rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/pCoOSkYUJmQ/israel-launches-spacecraft-to-the-moon
News copyright owned by their original publishers | Copyright © 2004 - 2024 Zicos / 440Network
Current Date
Mar, Thu 28 - 23:34 CET