SpaceIL win $1m for privately-funded space mission

The first privately-funded spacecraft to orbit the Moon and attempt to land on its surface is to be awarded a $1m Moonshot Award by XPRIZE.

SpaceIL’s ill-fated Beresheet robotic lander failed to soft-land during its final descent to the Moon yesterday, April 11, 2019. As it prepared for landing, Beresheet experienced a main engine failure and lost communication with mission control in Tel Aviv, suggesting a crash landing into the surface.

Beresheet, the Hebrew name for the book of Genesis meaning “In the beginning”, was launched on 21 February atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida. Nammo Westcott in Buckinghamshire developed and built Beresheet’s LEROS 2b rocket engine.

“SpaceIL’s mission not only touched the Moon, it touched the lives and hearts of an entire world that was watching,” said Peter H. Diamandis, executive chairman and founder of XPRIZE. “The legacy SpaceIL will have on the future of the space industry is significant. This team’s ability to build a lunar lander for $100m and less than 50 engineers is remarkable, a leap forward towards affordable and accessible space exploration.”