Beresheet 2: Israel

• 10 Dec 2020

Why in News

Recently, Israel launched the Beresheet 2 project aimed at landing an unmanned craft on the moon in 2024.

• Earlier, Israel’s Beresheet probe crash landed on the Moon.

Key Points

• Background:
  
  • The Beresheet probe was a private mission to the Moon by Israeli non-profit SpaceIL organisation.
    
    • Beresheet in hebrew (spoken in Israel) means Genesis.
  • It was successfully launched in February 2019, on board a Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral (USA) and arrived in lunar orbit in April 2019.
  • It suffered an engine failure as it prepared to land and crashed abruptly on the surface of the moon.
• Beresheet 2:
  
  • Objective: Conducting experiments and collecting data on behalf of school students.
  • Structure: It will involve launching two landing craft and an orbiter that would circle the moon for years.
  • Cost: It will cost around 100 million dollars raised from international partnerships and donors.
  • Significance: Israel could become the fourth nation to land a spacecraft on the moon after the USA, the former Soviet Union and China.
• Other Missions to Moon:
  
  • India has planned a new moon mission named Chandrayaan-3. It is likely to be launched in early 2021.
    
    • It will be a mission repeat of Chandrayaan-2 and will include a Lander and Rover similar to that of Chandrayaan-2, but will not have an orbiter.
    • Chandrayaan-2 failed which crushed India's dream to become the first nation to successfully touch down on the lunar surface in its maiden attempt.
  • The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has decided to send an unmanned spacecraft to the moon in 2024.
  • Artemis is a crewed spaceflight program of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) that has the goal of landing "the first woman and the next man" on the Moon, specifically at the lunar south pole region by 2024.