An Israeli group is raising a budget to land a nano-satellite on the moon as part of the Lunar Xprize competition

The members of the group presented as part of a panel that dealt with the field of space as part of the Globes Israel Business Conference * The goal: educational and moral - to place the Israeli flag on the moon and attract the youth to the sciences

Israeli pride, this is what the members of the spaceil group are planning to land a nano-satellite on the moon as part of the Google Lunar Xprize competition. The company seeks to raise about one hundred thousand dollars from sponsors in the first stage, in order to excite the youth and make them apply and study science.

Three of the entrepreneurs, Yariv Bash, Yonat Weintraub, and Kafir Demari, presented the project as part of a panel dealing with the Israeli space industry during the Globes newspaper's Israel Business Conference held yesterday (Monday) in Tel Aviv.

According to Bash, to date only two countries have landed on the moon in a soft landing, the Americans in manned and unmanned missions and the Russians in unmanned missions. Our intention is to be the third country to land on the moon in a soft way. As soon as you stick the Israeli flag on the moon the whole plan gets exposure. The youth love space, it's the thing they want to connect with. Our goal as a civil group is to connect the factors and make a change in the perception of Israel - both the self and how the world looks at Israel."

"About two years ago, the Google Lunar Express competition was opened, the goal with private funding to bring a lander that will land on the moon, take pictures and send on the radio. There are about 20 registered groups. First prize 20 million dollars, second prize 5 million. As an association we want to establish, the part is to put the Israel's flag on the moon, profits if we win will go towards nanotechnology in Israel SPACEIL is the only Israeli group that is in registration processes, registration closes at the end of the year So apparently it will also be the only Israeli team.

According to him, a number of entities are already supporting the project, including the Israel Space Agency, the aerospace industry, the Ramon Foundation, the Israel Association for Small Satellites "and in addition we will receive assistance from the robotics laboratory of Ben Gurion University and the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya, which is helping us on the business side, and Amitzur Rosenfeld, who helped us. We are also in contact with Rafael , ITS and hope to contact the other bodies - Elta, Alup and the Technion."

And Weintraub explains: "The idea is based on a cubesat-type nanosatellite in a 30-centimeter-long, 10-centimeter-wide, and 10-centimeter-high configuration. The small size and low weight allow us to build a solution that is relatively easy to lift into space. The satellite's electronics occupy a very small volume, no more than a cell phone, and therefore the rest of the space will be dedicated to fuel and propulsion systems.The arrival to the moon will be done first through a flight to GTO orbit - an intermediate orbit to which the communication satellites are uploaded, perhaps even as a ride on one of the following satellites. From there the vessel will perform a maneuver on the bottom of the vessel, control, after landing, we turn on the main engine to perform a 500 meter detection. meets the conditions of the competition."

Demari: "We plan to carry out the launch by the end of 2012, by which time we will carry out planning and simulations and then development and integration. The total budget is about 5 million dollars, with most of the budget going to the second year - for integration and the launch itself, and in the first phase we have a milestone of 100 thousand dollars that we need until the end of the year to start operating with full vigor."

Demari also surveyed the main competitors: out of the 20 teams, not all of them show the ability to reach the moon. Among the serious ones, TEAM FRED is a community-based open source project - it is difficult to manage. Another group, UROLUNA - a European academic project, but they do not yet have an explanation of the way they will reach the moon, as well as Odyssey Moon and Synergy Moon - civilian companies that plan projects of 100-150 million dollars designed to develop new technologies and sell them.

And Bash concludes: "Our goal is very focused - to put the Israeli flag on the moon. The goal is to use the ability to develop small satellites. Almost all the capabilities are 45 minutes away from here, our advantage compared to other groups is that we do not develop new technologies. We have academic personnel And motivated engineers - over 30 experts in fields such as communication, propulsion, business support who are already working on the project - part of the team, the Israeli spirit, determination and belief that we can carry out the mission. We are at a stage where we need 100 thousand dollars by the end of the year. We want the companies to donate their time and money and be part of the team.

to the spaceil group website