Toroid
Founding Member
The Israeli moon lander Beresheet will launch from Cape Canaveral, Florida on 02/18 aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 Rocket and land between the Apollo 15 & 17 sites. It contains a digital time capsule. SpaceIL is behind the project and Il is another version of El or God. In alien circles the El's are the Elder Race. Beresheet is another spelling for Bereshit meaning in the beginning or Genesis in Hebrew.
Bereshit (parsha) - Wikipedia
El (deity) - Wikipedia
SpaceIL - Wikipedia
Interesting anagrams:
Bereshit=See Birth
Genesis=See Sign
Canaveral=Naval Race
Israeli moon lander passes final tests as it prepares to blast off within weeks | Daily Mail Online
www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBcrV6BxLs4
Bereshit (parsha) - Wikipedia
El (deity) - Wikipedia
SpaceIL - Wikipedia
Interesting anagrams:
Bereshit=See Birth
Genesis=See Sign
Canaveral=Naval Race
Israeli moon lander passes final tests as it prepares to blast off within weeks | Daily Mail Online
Israel's first moon lander has passed its final tests ahead of its historic blastoff on February 18th.
SpaceIL's lander — which has been dubbed Beresheet, the Hebrew word for 'In the Beginning' will take off from Cape Canaveral on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.
It aims to land somewhere between the landing sites of Apollo 15 and 17, and will carry a 'digital time capsule' alongside a suite of scientific instruments.
'We are looking forward to the launch & the challenging journey ahead...'SpaceIL's CEO Dr. Ido Anteby said.
If it is successful, Israel will be the fourth country to carry out a controlled 'soft' landing of an unmanned vessel on the moon.
Since 1966, the United States and the former Soviet Union have put around a dozen of them on the moon and China did so in 2013, and earlier this year when it landed on the far side of the moon.
Israel has launched satellites before, but this is the first longer-range Israeli spacecraft of its kind.
The craft, called Beresheet, Hebrew for Genesis, is shaped like a round table with four carbon-fibre legs, stands about 1.5 meters tall and weighs 585 kg (1,290 lb) - with fuel accounting for two-thirds of that weight.
The time capsule is a single, space-resilient disc, roughly the size of a CD, holding digital files of children's drawings, photographs and information on Israeli culture and the history of humanity.
'The capsule will remain on the moon and stay in the environment of the moon and maybe in a couple tens of years someone will send a spacecraft to bring it back,' Anteby said.
Beresheet is also carrying a device to measure the moon's magnetic fields.
SpaceIL is backed mainly by private donors, including U.S. casino magnate Sheldon Adelson and billionaire Morris Kahn who co-founded Amdocs , one of Israel's biggest high-tech companies.
SpaceIL was founded in 2011 by a group of engineers with a budget of about $95 million.
State-owned defense contractor Israel Aerospace Industries has collaborated in the project.
At 60,000 km (37,000 miles) above Earth, the spacecraft will split off from the Falcon launch vehicle.
It will at first orbit Earth in expanding ellipses and, about two months later, cross into the moon's orbit.
It will then slow and carry out a soft landing which should cause no damage to the craft.
'Our landing site is located somewhere between the landing sites of Apollo 15 and Apollo 17,' Anteby said.
'It's a flat area. But still it has small craters and a lot of boulders.'
Israel Aerospace Industries manager Opher Doron stressed that the small craft, roughly the size of a washing machine, faces a 'difficult, arduous journey' because it will have to make a number of orbits before landing.
If successful, the team promises the landing will be a breakthrough for Israeli technology and commercial space travel.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBcrV6BxLs4