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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."

10 of 150 comments (clear)

  1. What people are forgetting... by Kuroji · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Going to the moon isn't merely a curiosity or a scientific achievement. It's a statement to the world that you were able to accurately land a payload on a target more than 350,000 km away. If you can do that with a rocket that leaves near-Earth orbit, it means you can do it with one that does not leave Earth orbit.

    In other words, moon landings are how you tell the world you have ICBMs (or at least the ability to make them) without the public throwing a fit about it.

    1. Re:What people are forgetting... by Ellis+D.+Tripp · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Putting a satellite into a predetermined orbit proves the same thing, without the added expense of going all the way to the moon...

      --
      Remember "News for Nerds, Stuff that Matters"? Help make it a reality again! http://soylentnews.org
    2. Re:What people are forgetting... by cusco · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Really? This garbage again? India launches a probe to Mars and the Luddites scream "IT'S AN ICBM!!" Now Israel. Utter stupidity. Do you think that generals in Israel and India do not talk to their counterparts in Pakistan and Iran? Is this actually a surprise to anyone who has been paying any attention AT ALL to the advancement of aerospace science over the last half a century? Targeting systems aren't even considered high-tech any more, you could program an Arduino board and a GPS receiver to do it.

      Here's a headline for you: SpaceX and Virgin Galactic Can Produce ICBMs! Run And Hide!

      Frelling idiots.

      --
      "Think about how stupid the average person is. Now, realise that half of them are dumber than that." - George Carlin
    3. Re:What people are forgetting... by murdocj · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Or maybe, just maybe, it's a scientific accomplishment that a technologically advanced nation would like to achieve. They don't have to land on the moon to remind the other nations in the Middle East that this probably isn't the best time to start another pogrom.

  2. Flying to the moon might turn out to be easier... by ffkom · · Score: 5, Insightful

    ... than making peace with your neighbours. ;-)

  3. Re:Here come the rednecks by djh2400 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Personally, I find it somewhat sad that individual groups of people are all trying to accomplish the same thing or things which have been accomplished by humanity previously. What I'm saying is that I wish, rather, that the entire world would unite efforts in furthering human space-exploration technologies instead of countries keeping these "secrets" to themselves and ultimately slowing everything down from what they could be if we had one major, united world effort.

    I suppose a lot of that behavior originates from from exactly what you point out in your post — though I do not understand said behavior.

  4. Re:I don't mean to belittle the will to do so... by mark-t · · Score: 3, Insightful

    But this has long since ceased to be any sort of technical challenge or accomplishment.

    Really? How many things have *YOU* soft-landed on the moon?

    --
    File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
  5. "Israel Plans".... huh? by whistlingtony · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The article starts off with "Israel Plans", except it's not Israel, it's an organization inside Israel? I had a salad for lunch. "America has salad for lunch! Later plans to visit restroom!"

  6. Re:and where do they get this money? by murdocj · · Score: 3, Insightful

    It's anti-Israel in that the story about a private group putting together a moon mission instantly morphs into "those Jews are using our money".

  7. Re:Why are they doing it? by murdocj · · Score: 4, Insightful

    "sometimes-aggressive" as in Israel occasionally have to push back against the surrounding countries that want to finish what Hitler started.