Soooo…

Israel is launching a moon mission.

China just landed a probe on the dark side, now Israel. What's all this interest in the moon? Also, how much money do we give them, again? Where's our moon mission? OH, we paid for Israel's, that's where our space program money went.

Two Days to the Start of the Israeli Moon Mission

On February 21, 2019, Israeli nonprofit SpaceIL and Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI)’s first lunar spacecraft will launch a 180-kilogram lunar lander to the moon on a SpaceX Falcon 9. The full SpaceIL mission is a 600 kg spacecraft.

Above – NASA / Goddard / Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter / Jason Davis / The Planetary Society. The lunar lander, Beresheet, will touch down in Mare Serenitatis, the “Sea of Serenity,” shown as the larger circle. The approximate landing site is in the inner circle.

Three-way Split of Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit Mission

The Israeli spacecraft will launch as a secondary payload with a Spaceflight Industries ridesharing. It will take two months to land on the moon.

An Indonesian telecommunications satellite called PSN-6 spacecraft, the SpaceIL moon mission and another satellite will be deployed to a geosynchronous transfer orbit.

The SpaceIL lander will orbit Earth three times and raise its orbit until being captured by the Moon’s gravity.

Moon Mission Funding

Israeli billionaire and SpaceIL President Morris Kahn donated some $27 million to the project. The Israeli government has promised to fund 10% of the project. The Adelson family has also provided funding.

The moon mission will cost about $95 million.

https://www.nextbigfuture.com/2019/02/two-days-to-the-start-of-the-israeli-moon-mission.html