SpaceIL decides Beresheet-2 will not be lunar mission
The new colonial movement: The Israeli nonprofit company SpaceIL has decided that its second Beresheet spacecraft will not go to the Moon.
The association’s board of directors decided to involve the public in the process of choosing the challenge that Beresheet 2 will lead, as was done in the national mission to the moon. At the same time, the association will continue to focus on establishing the values of the “Beresheet effect” among the younger generation in Israel.
What I think is really going on is that they have realized that they cannot raise the necessary cash to fly another lunar lander, and are therefore setting their sights lower in order to find a mission they can fund.
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The new colonial movement: The Israeli nonprofit company SpaceIL has decided that its second Beresheet spacecraft will not go to the Moon.
The association’s board of directors decided to involve the public in the process of choosing the challenge that Beresheet 2 will lead, as was done in the national mission to the moon. At the same time, the association will continue to focus on establishing the values of the “Beresheet effect” among the younger generation in Israel.
What I think is really going on is that they have realized that they cannot raise the necessary cash to fly another lunar lander, and are therefore setting their sights lower in order to find a mission they can fund.
I must unfortunately ask you for your financial support because I do not depend on ads and rely entirely on the generosity of readers to keep Behind the Black running. You can either make a one time donation for whatever amount you wish, or you sign up for a monthly subscription ranging from $2 to $15 through Paypal or $3 to $50 through Patreon.
Your support will allow me to continue covering science and culture as I have for the past twenty years, independent and free from any outside influence.
Your support is even more essential to me because I not only keep this site free from advertisements, I do not use the corrupt social media companies like Google, Twitter, and Facebook to promote my work. I depend wholly on the direct support of my readers.
You can provide that support to Behind The Black with a contribution via Patreon or PayPal. To use Patreon, go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation. For PayPal click one of the following buttons:
If Patreon or Paypal don't work for you, you can support Behind The Black directly by sending your donation by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman, to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
Or you can donate by using Zelle through your bank. You will need to give my name and email address (found at the bottom of the "About" page). The best part of this electronic option is that no fees will be deducted! What you donate will be what I receive.
As all the updates our host provides us show, there are a lot of amazing things that can be done at asteroids and comets. Not sure if that would be any cheaper but a little creativity will find a way forward.
From the article: “the ‘Beresheet 2’ spacecraft will not fly to the moon, since such a project does not pose enough of a new challenge.”
I hate to say it, for a project that did so much, but they failed to meet the project’s actual challenge. If all they are looking for is to break new records, then they are not doing what I had expected and are not serious about space exploration. It seems to me that they need to meet their first challenge before they move on to others. Otherwise, they could spend a lot of money not completing any of their challenges, yet still improve their capabilities — just not demonstrate this improvement.
Even if they do the same thing over again, they can advance science and our knowledge of the Moon, and that is quite enough challenge for many explorers.
If they do not have enough money in order to try for the Moon again, then that is the challenge that I propose. Find a way to raise that money. Indeed, raising outside funds was the first challenge NASA gave to its Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) awardees. Meeting that first challenge led to lower cost resupply missions to the ISS. Meeting a similar challenge could lead to SpaceIL providing lower cost exploration missions.