Community Magazine April 2019

48 Community Magazine I srael prides itself as the “Start-up Nation,” known to be on the cusp of technological breakthroughs and firsts. Here’s another first. Israel has literally launched a new initiative: a spacecraft with an Israeli flag, headed to the moon. Given the country’s rapid advancements in science in recent years, it is no surprise that Israel will become the fourth country (behind the U.S., Russia, and China) to successfully send, and land a spacecraft on the moon. Even our detractors have to admit that it is truly impressive for Israel to have joined the ranks of three of the world’s superpowers in accomplishing this feat. After eight years of development, and hundreds of millions of dollars invested, the space craft dubbed Beresheet will become the world’s first private vehicle to make a lunar landing. It took flight the last week of February, and is due to touch down April 11, 2019 after traveling 230,000 miles. What’s on Board? Launched at Cape Canaveral by SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket, the craft is said to be no larger than a household dishwasher, and what is most fascinating is the craft’s highly unusual cargo. One black disk, reportedly sturdy enough to stay intact for a billion years, holds a collection of songs, the text of the Torah, a Holocaust survivor’s testimony, a copy of the Israeli Declaration of Independence, Israel’s nation’s anthem, an archive of Israeli cultural arts, children’s drawings, a blueprint for 5,000 languages with a billion and a half sample translations, and the entire English Wikipedia. Its payload includes a device from the Weizmann Institute of Science that will gauge magnetic fields, as well as a device from NASA to accurately measure the distance between the earth and the moon. Beresheet Spacecraft – One Giant Leap for Israel Community Magazine has earlier reported on the numerous Jewish astronauts who have been involved in the U.S. space program, in addition to Israel’s own Ilan Ramon, the country’s first space explorer, who perished in the Columbia disaster in 2003. How the Project Got Off the Ground Thismissionwas spurredby Israeli entrepreneurs Yonatan Winetraub, Yariv Bash, and Kfir Damari, who conceived the idea to send an Israeli craft to the moon. They admit that it took a few late-night beverages at a seaside bar to convince themselves this could be done. Initially, they set up the corporate entity SpaceIL, with the intention to enter the Google Lunar Xprize, a competition that started in 2007. The contest promised tens of millions of dollars to the winner who could create the infrastructure to send a craft to themoon by 2014. Though nowinner was awarded, the team decided to press on with their dream. Meanwhile, in 2011, the three Israeli entrepreneurs met South African billionaire Morris Kahn at an international space conference in Israel. After their presentation, Kahn reportedly asked the gents if they had funding, and was surprised that the answer was “no.” He initially committed to a $100,000 donation without flinching. Kahn, who now makes his home in Israel, eventually contributed $43 million of the $100 million needed to develop and produce the craft that would eventually be rocketed to space by SpaceX. Other fundraising efforts of his included a $2 million grant from the Israeli government, as well as bringing in other private donations. According to reports, Kahn has said that Israeli national pride had a lot to do with those eager to offer financial assistance. DAVE GORDON The Beresheet spacecraft will be the smallest vehicle to ever land on the moon.