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 by Brooks Hays (UPI) Apr 11, 2019
Beresheet is attempting to make history on Thursday. The spacecraft is trying to become the first privately funded lander to touch down on the moon. Last week, Beresheet executed the engine burn needed to put itself into orbit around the moon. Now, the spacecraft is preparing to land inside the moon's Mare Serenitatis, or Sea of Serenity, sometime between 3 and 4 p.m. ET. The landing will be streamed live online. Beresheet was designed and built by SpaceIL, a privately funded nonprofit based in Israel. The team of scientists and engineers began working on the project in 2011 as part of the Google Lunar X-Prize competition. When Google folded the contest, SpaceIL decided to continued on. Last week, the XPrize Foundation announced they would award SpaceIL with $1 million if Beresheet sticks the landing on Thursday. On Wednesday night, the spacecraft shifted into a more elliptical orbit in preparation for its moon landing. "We are ready for landing!" SpaceIL announced on Twitter. After scientists give the lander the signal, Beresheet will execute the necessary touchdown maneuvers autonomously. As an Israeli-based mission, Beresheet's landing would make Israel just the fourth country in history to put a spacecraft on the moon. China, Russia and the United States are the only other countries to successfully land a spacecraft on the lunar surface.
ESA boosts startup to the Moon Berlin, Germany (ESA) Apr 08, 2019 European Space Agency operations specialists are helping flight planners at new European space startup PTScientists, headquartered in Berlin, pilot their way to the Moon. PTScientists are planning to launch lunar landers and rovers as a regular service in the future, with an inaugural flight expected in 2020. Specialists from ESA's European Space Operations Centre in Darmstadt, Germany, are providing consultancy on flight dynamics and flight operations as well as preparing for driving two lu ... read more
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