Israeli nonprofit group SpaceIL said on Tuesday that it will attempt the first-ever private lunar landing this February, making Israel the fourth nation to land a spacecraft on the moon, after the Soviet Union, the U.S. and China.
The spacecraft, which is shaped like a round table with four carbon fiber legs, is set to blast off in December from Florida's Cape Canaveral, aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, Ido Anteby, chief executive of SpaceIL, said Tuesday.
It is expected to land by February 13, 2019, after which it will plant an Israeli flag on the moon, transmit pictures and videos back to Earth, as well as measure magnetic fields.
"Our spacecraft will be the smallest ever to land on the moon," said Anteby.
Since 1966, the United States and the former Soviet Union have put around 12 unmanned spacecraft on the moon using braking power to perform soft landings. China did so in 2013.
SpaceIL was founded in 2011 by a group of engineers with a budget of about $90 million.
The engineers had to sacrifice size and operational capabilities for more efficient travel. The craft, unveiled on Tuesday at state-owned defense contractor Israel Aerospace Industries, is about 1.5 meters (5 feet) tall and weighs 585 kg (1,290 lb). The bulk of the weight, some two thirds, is fuel.
At 60,000 km (37,000 miles) above Earth, the spacecraft will deploy. It will 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 causing no damage to the craft.
"The landing is the most complicated part. The spot chosen is relatively flat and the spacecraft has eye contact with Earth for communication," Anteby explained. "From the moment the spacecraft reaches the point that it begins the landing, it will handle it totally autonomously."
SpaceIL is backed mainly by private donors, including U.S. philanthropist and businessman Sheldon Adelson and South African billionaire Morris Kahn.
The project started when Google announced its Lunar XPrize, a contest for exploring low-tech means of space exploration. The competition ended without a winner, but the Israeli group decided to continue, in cooperation with the IAI.
"This is a tremendous project," Kahn said Tuesday. "When the rocket is launched into space, we will all remember where we were when Israel landed on the moon."
Dr. Miriam and Sheldon Adelson own the company that is the primary shareholder of Israel Hayom.
