Approaching the moon

After the official announcement of SpaceIL's ascension to the final line in the Google Lunar Xprize competition number one of the founders, Kafir Damari to the site the scientist on some of the engineering challenges

The long journey is about to come to an end, says Kafir Demari, one of the founders of the SpaceIL association, in an interview with the Hadaan site, in an interview with the Hadaan site on the occasion of the announcement of the inclusion of SpaceIL Among the five teams confirmed for the final stage of the Google Lunar XPRIZE competition.

"It's a much longer journey than we originally imagined but it's coming together towards an end. A year ago we announced the purchase of a launch that could take us to the moon and we were the first group to do it. We started with over thirty groups and little by little groups fell by the wayside who realized that this journey was difficult and not easy. The organizers of the competition also understood this. When we purchased the launch, there were 16 other teams with us on the way to purchase a launch, but the decision of the competition organizers that anyone who does not buy a launch by the end of 2016 is out of the competition, so that only five teams were approved: one American team, an international team, an Indian team and a Japanese team, with the SUV developed by the Japanese will fly on top of the Indians' spacecraft, although they may also have their own vehicle."

What kind of competition is this if they don't all launch at the same time?

"The launch dates are not synchronized. Each group is going to launch as fast as it can (depending on the capabilities of the launch provider AB). And the winning team will be the first to land a soft landing on the moon and complete the task which includes photography, video and stills and additional requirements such as moving 500 meters on the lunar soil and repeating the same tasks on the new site. The first team that manages to do all these things, is the one that will win the competition.

The jumping vehicle
In response to the question of how SpaceIL came to think outside the box, so that instead of building an all-terrain vehicle, the spacecraft itself will jump, Demari says: "It happened right when we started, in November 2010. We were the last team to register for the competition. We saw that other groups started three years before us and realized that we had to do it differently. It turned out to us that in these three years they were working on building a shuttle in front of the moon even before they thought about how to get there. We thought how to do this without building a car. We read the conditions and it was written there that it is also allowed to fly the 500 meters and not necessarily travel on the ground. The organizers of the competition approved this for us, and thus we saved at least two years of R&D and millions of dollars.

How will the launch be carried out?
We will share a SPACEX launch with another satellite. Our companion satellite will be released into orbit around the Earth. Our spacecraft will also be released, although at a higher altitude, but over 90% of the way we will have to do with the power of the spacecraft's engines.
"It's not exactly a secondary launch (or hitchhikers, as they call nano-satellites that are launched into space in launchers that have not filled their entire capacity AB) because, after all, the spacecraft weighs half a ton.
The spacecraft will have to cross the distance to the moon - 340 thousand kilometers and perform a careful maneuver that will cause it to fall into the moon's gravity and then land, that's the challenge. The spacecraft will reach the moon at a speed of over 7,200 km/h and we will have to bring it down to zero speed and perform automatic landing control. There will be no control from Earth at this point. It still takes about three seconds round trip, so the spacecraft will receive a landing command and know how to land itself. We do as many tests as possible to make sure that this moment will pass successfully.

"After we have carried out an initial mission and part of the scientific mission (of the Weizmann Institute and Tel Aviv University, see below), and after we have made sure that none of the legs got stuck on the ground, we will increase the intensity of the combustion, and the spacecraft will ascend in a ballistic motion, balance and land again."
Can you choose the landing area?
"We determine the general area where we instruct the spacecraft to land for the first and second time. An area where the ground is flat and has as few medium-sized stones as possible (because large ones can be seen from afar and small ones are less disturbing, etc.), such areas are mapped, but the spacecraft will have to determine the exact point on its own."

How is the project progressing in terms of funding?
"The entire project costs about 70 million dollars and of that we raised over fifty million. We recently published that Sami Segol donated a significant amount and joined Morris Kahan, Sheldon Adelson, Lynn Shusterman and many other big and small donations, volunteers, hundreds of people who donate and volunteer in many ways and help this dream become a reality."

And what about education, which is an important component of SpaceIL?
"We have already met over a quarter of a million students, working hard to reach almost everyone. During the space week that will take place next week, we are going to reveal for the first time a VR experience - to sit and experience the path to the moon that the spacecraft will take. We are working both at the educational level and at the marketing level in cooperation with the Ministry of Education and other bodies to produce a program that will be delivered during the landing period in all schools in Israel. "

How is the cooperation with the Israeli industry carried out?
"Our main partners are the Aerospace Industry, the Ministry of Science, and the Space Agency. The aerospace industry has a significant part, also because the spacecraft is being built inside a space plant in the Aerospace Industry, and in addition, many engineers with unique knowledge assist us in the mission. Without the aerospace industry, it would not really have been possible to build a spaceship in Israel. From the industry in general, we receive support from many bodies, as well as from academia, including the Weizmann Institute and Tel Aviv University, which will conduct a scientific experiment."