From Space Policy Online.com: A robotic lunar lander built by an Israeli non-profit, SpaceIL, is on its way to the Moon tonight. ÌýLaunched as a rideshare on a SpaceX launch of an Indonesian communications satellite, Beresheet will take about two months to reach lunar orbit and then descend to a soft landing on the Moon. ÌýIt is Israel’s first attempt at lunar exploration and carries a NASA laser retroreflector as part of its payload. ÌýNASA also announced today 12 experiments it has ready to fly on U.S. private sector spacecraft as part of its Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative.
SpaceIL began its lunar lander effort as part of the Google Lunar X-Prize contest, which ended in 2018 after no one won the $20 million Grand Prize despite years of extending the deadline.
NASA signed an agreement with the Israeli Space Agency in October to include a laser retroreflector on Beresheet and aid in tracking the spacecraft with the Deep Space Network. ÌýIn return, SpaceIL will share data from SpaceIL’s lunar magnetometer instrument. NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) will also attempt to make scientific measurements of Beresheet once it is on the surface.
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