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Israeli Group To Attempt Moon Landing

Posted by Soulskill on from the fly-me-to-the-moon dept.

cold fjord writes: "NDTV reports, 'Israel plans to do what only the world's biggest countries have so far managed to do: land an unmanned spacecraft on the moon ... only Russia, the U.S. and China have soft landed on the moon, and India hard landed its tri-colour using the moon impact probe in 2008 ... The washing machine-sized spacecraft that weighs 121 kilograms is being readied by a not-for-profit venture called SpaceIL. ... The Israeli lunar probe had its genesis after the $30 million Google Lunar X Prize was announced as a competition which challenged non-state-owned space agencies to land on the moon, send back photos, and move 500 meters on the surface of the moon. About two dozen global teams are racing to win the prize- SpaceIL reckons it's in pole position. ... ex-NASA engineer Yonatan Winetraub and two of his friends conceived of the spacecraft in 2010 ... then used a Facebook page to promote the dream. Today, the dream has matured into a $36 million mission with 20 full time employees and 250 volunteers. ... Around 40,000 school students have been associated with this project.' Further details are available here."

7 of 150 comments (clear)

  1. Jews in Space! by Ellis+D.+Tripp · · Score: 4, Funny

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...

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  2. Say the Muslims got there first... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    Someone convince them the Muslims got there first, and are living in craters... then we'll get loads of colonists on the moon in no time.

  3. well... by __Paul__ · · Score: 3, Funny

    Maybe ... the ... author ... should ... try ... writing ... an ... article ... in ... full ... sentences

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    1. Re:well... by sconeu · · Score: 5, Funny

      He's just channelling his inner Shatner.

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  4. Relocating the Palestinians .. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Are they planning to relocate the Palestinians to the moon?

  5. Re:How long until by mwehle · · Score: 5, Funny

    moon colonies?

    That would be moon "settlements" - Israel doesn't colonize, citizen.

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  6. Re:One word by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Funny

    You mean the USA?