Genesis 2 lunar spacecraft project frozen. SpaceIL will continue to operate as an educational non-profit organization

SpaceIL has frozen all development activities for the Genesis 2 lander and will remain solely focused on educational activities. In recent months, the organization has been conducting a documentation exercise in case the project is returned.

The "Beresheet 2" project (=Genesys) was launched at the initiative of the SpaceIL association, following the experience gained from the "Beresheet 1" mission - the first Israeli spacecraft to reach the lunar environment but crashed during a soft landing attempt. The new project was designed to be more ambitious and complex than its predecessor.

The turning point came in mid-2023, when major donors to the project, including the Maurice Kahn Foundation, announced a reduction or complete cessation of their support. The reasons for this were, among other things, concerns related to general budgetary uncertainty and security instability factors in the region.

This situation created a serious budgetary difficulty that made it difficult for the association to secure the funding required to continue development in its full form. In a discussion at the association's board of directors, it became clear that it was not possible to continue both the development of the orbiter and the development of the two landers at the same time. As a result, an initial decision was made to suspend the development of the orbiter, which was supposed to be carried out by Israel Aerospace Industries, and then, due to the continuing difficulties, it was decided to freeze the development of the landers (by SpaceIL) and the entire project.

The initial vision for "Beresheet 2" included a triple array: an orbiter and two landers.

The orbiter was planned to be built by Israel Aerospace Industries, a company with extensive experience in the field of aerospace. Its role was to orbit the Moon over time, to serve as a relay station for continuous and high-quality communication with landers during their operations on the lunar surface, and to collect scientific data from orbit around the Moon.

The landers were designed and developed by SpaceIL's own engineering team. The intention was that they would land at two different sites on the lunar surface, or at different stages of the mission. The organization employed many engineers, some of whom were veterans of the Israeli space industry and others were early-stage engineers seeking to solve the challenges of deep space, as opposed to low and high Earth orbits, where the Israeli industry excels.

The rationale behind this collaboration was to create a robust technological envelope, while applying lessons learned from the "Beresheet 1" landing, which demonstrated the challenges of containment and the need for stable communication with Earth.

Simulators that simulate a moon landing

Significant engineering progress was made in the early stages of the project, primarily in the development of the lander. The engineering design of the main landing components was completed, dedicated integration testing laboratories were established, and hardware components, including electronic and mechanical components, were supplied.

One of the most notable achievements at this stage was the development of an advanced landing simulator. This simulator was designed to comprehensively simulate the lunar environment and the complex landing process. It integrated all critical landing systems, including hardware (such as optical sensors) and airborne software (flight control software and algorithms for stabilization and soft landing). The simulator allowed the engineering team to practice and test a wide range of scenarios under controlled laboratory conditions: from the high-altitude separation phase from the orbiter, through landing maneuvers to soft contact with the surface. More importantly, it was used to examine possible failure scenarios, such as a malfunction in essential sensors, thereby assisting in feasibility testing, risk mitigation, and critical design updates for the mission.

Looking ahead: Educational work and future plans

Although the operational project to land additional Israeli spacecraft on the moon has been frozen, the SpaceIL association continues to operate as a registered and living non-profit organization. One of the main goals of the association, from its inception, has been to inspire and strengthen scientific and technological education in Israel. In this sense, there is no break: educational activity continues at full speed, thanks to a dedicated educational team and a group of about a hundred volunteers working in many schools across the country.

This activity is reflected in in-depth educational programs, which include lectures, hands-on workshops, and student participation in research-based projects. A new program that was recently launched is intended for middle and high schools, and is currently being implemented in 16 schools. The organization aims to expand the circle and reach three times the number of educational institutions - with the aim of bringing the message of space exploration and technological entrepreneurship to as many youth as possible.

More of the topic in Hayadan:

• How hard is it to land on Mars?
• SpaceIL has chosen a first experiment for the Genesis 2 mission: testing the effectiveness of drugs in deep space missions
• An Israeli group is raising a budget to land a nano-satellite on the moon as part of the Lunar Xprize competition