Zee Media Bureau
Seems that Israel’s moonshot project is a lot closer to reality. The SpaceIL organization, which is developing the Israeli spacecraft that will journey to the moon in 2015, has acquired the engine for the rocket that will propel Israel’s lunar lander into space.
The Israel-developed propulsion system is being produced by Israel Aircraft Industries. SpaceIL said that this system is “among the most critical components of the project.”
SpaceIL is the Israeli organization behind building a “blue and white” spacecraft to compete in Google’s big Lunar X contest, which promises to award $30 million to a team that can land an unmanned, robotic craft on the moon. Once there, the craft will need to carry out several missions, such as taking high-definition video and beaming it back to earth, and exploring the surface of the moon by moving, or sending out a vehicle, that will move 500 meters along the moon’s surface.
SpaceIL’s mission is to successfully build, launch into space, and land on the moon a space capsule, making Israel the fourth country in the world to achieve this. SpaceIL has over 250 volunteers and the project has received numerous corporate and academic sponsors – most notably Israeli telecom giant Bezeq, which, besides helping with the funding, is providing optical fiber technology that will transmit the entire drama back to earth.
