Talk:SpaceIL

Trans-Lunar Injection

I found two references on the 2-month push toward the Moon.

• This recent article from a press conference states: "Normally, a lunar mission is sent into a translunar insertion orbit by the top stage of the rocket, but the Israeli probe will have to rely on a series of orbital maneuvers after it separates from the Falcon 9 second stage at an altitude of 37,282 mi (60,000 km). These will push it into increasingly eccentric orbits over the course of two months. When it comes close to the Moon, it will autonomously fire its engine to send it into lunar orbit."

• This report from The Verge states: "The rocket will launch the team's vehicle into lower Earth orbit sometime in the second half of 2017. From there, the rocket will carry the lander farther into space, and then the spacecraft will propel itself the rest of the way to land gently on the Moon."

It looks like it will be a combination of burns from both the F9 booster and the Sparrow to get there. Is this right? Can somebody more knowledgeable than me in rocketry edit the article in plain English? Cheers, Rowan Forest (talk) 23:00, 17 July 2018 (UTC)

Hi Rowan Forest, from the SpaceIL blog, Falcon 9 will bring to an orbit around Earth. Post-seperation the manuevers are all performed by the Sparrow. See Here Golan's mom (talk) 11:03, 18 July 2018 (UTC)

SpaceIL has posted a video of the flight profile on YouTube describing the many steps in the two month long voyage. --Eliyahu S ^Talk 02:38, 22 February 2019 (UTC)

Transcription of the video: --Eliyahu S ^Talk 03:28, 22 February 2019 (UTC)

SpaceX Falcon9
Launch from Cape Canaveral, USA

Falcon9 rocket
releases Beresheet Spacecraft
with velocity over 36,000 km/hr!

Beresheet
is released into an
elliptical orbit

For the next 9 hours
Beresheet will coast up
It is expected to reach an altitude of over 60,000 km

As Beresheet gains altitude,
it loses velocity, due to Earth's gravity

When the spacecraft
reaches the top of its orbit,
it begins falling back toward Earth,
losing altitude but gaining velocity

The velocity direction
ensures that it will complete
full orbits and not hit the Earth.

The velocity increases
to over 36,000 km per hour
at the closest approach to Earth

Beresheet completes
a few more revolutions,
19 hours each

Major Manuever #1
Just before Beresheet reaches
its lowest point and its fastest speed,
it fires its rocket engine
to speed it up even more

Then it will go even higher
(about 140,000 km)

Major Maneuver #2
The top of the orbit is
raised to 270,000 km

The Moon completes
its orbit around Earth
in about 27 days

Major Maneuver #3
We raise the orbit
top to 4000,000 km

...high enough to reach
the orbit of the Moon

As the Moon gets closer,
it pulls more strongly on Beresheet.
But if Beresheet does not slow down,
it will fly away from the Moon.

Therefore, the lunar capture maneuver
is critical for the success of the mission

lunar capture
Beresheet goes into
orbit around the Moon

Lunar Orbit Insertion

Let's take a look again at the
lunar capture
but this time relative
to the Moon

After the maneuver,
the spacecraft is held in orbit
by the Moon's gravity

The Spacecraft is now in an elliptical orbit
traveling around the Moon
Lunar altitude: between
10,000 km and 290 km

Let's speed up the time
to see the complete elliptical orbit
around the Moon

The spacecraft completes
several full revolutions

Lunar Orbit Insertion
maneuver #2

Now the orbit is circular
about 250 km altitude

Beresheet receives a
series of commands from
the control room on Earth
and the landing process begins

The mission is planned
to land on the exact area
no larger than 30km^2

At the closest proximity
to the moon, the spacecraft's engines
are fired autonomously to reduce speed
from 6,000km/hr to 0

5 meters before touching
the ground, all engine stops at once
and Beresheet makes a freefall
to the ground.

Landing is completed

Lander name undecided?

The article currently refers to SpaceIL's lunar craft as Sparrow, and the refs do indicate that the name was used in the past. However, as of November 2018 the team is holding an online competition to name the spacecraft. Hence it appears SpaceIL's probes is yet to be named. Any information is welcome regarding this. Hms1103 (talk) 09:16, 9 November 2018 (UTC)

The name Sparrow, was changed to Beresheet, and Google Translator translates it to "Serenity" (Yiddish to English): [1]

I will leave the official name as Beresheet but I will mention the translation in parenthesis, if that is OK. Cheers, Rowan Forest (talk) 16:40, 19 December 2018 (UTC)

Hi user:Rowan Forest, I am confused. Beresheet IS the name in Hebrew, and the translation is "In the beginning" (or also "Genesis", for the Book of Genesis. See what the first paragraph at that article says. Thanks --Golan's mom (talk) 15:29, 20 December 2018 (UTC)

Hello. I do not speak Hebrew (or Yiddish) so I have to rely on published references or on an online translator. For clarity, we agree in that the official name is Beresheet, and we are discussing its English translation. I trust you know the language, but Google Translator shows it as Serenity. If you have a published reference in English that translates it to Genesis, I am more than happy to leave it at Genesis. Cheers, Rowan Forest (talk) 15:39, 20 December 2018 (UTC)

Hi User:Rowan Forest for English, see the Wikipedia article for the Book of Genesis and the SpaceIL website Thanks --Golan's mom (talk) 16:17, 20 December 2018 (UTC)

Unlike the Genesis Wikipedia article, SpaceIL web site is good enough. Genesis it is. I'll add that reference. Thank you. Rowan Forest (talk) 16:42, 20 December 2018 (UTC)

Fifth nation?

"If successful, it would make Israel the fifth nation —after Russia, the United States, China, and India— to land a probe on the Moon." - going by List of artificial objects on the Moon India only crashed a mission into the Moon, something Japan did as well. If we count that Israel is number six, if we count soft landings only it is number four, or do I miss something here? --mfb (talk) 21:20, 21 January 2019 (UTC)

We should specify soft landers. Rowan Forest (talk) 22:36, 21 January 2019 (UTC)

Okay, I see you changed it already. Done. --mfb (talk) 04:41, 22 January 2019 (UTC)

A passing comment, but I believe whoever wrote the original sentence had in mind India's Chandrayaan-2, which until recently was scheduled for 30 January (now NET April). The German PTScientists is also scheduled for this year, so fifth and six place is rather uncertain. Hms1103 (talk) 07:23, 22 January 2019 (UTC)

Good point, especially as this lander will take some time. Maybe we should remove the sentence until the order is clear. --mfb (talk) 08:35, 22 January 2019 (UTC)

I'm OK removing the sentence altogether being that we are dealing with future events and changing schedules. Rowan Forest (talk) 14:26, 22 January 2019 (UTC)

Lander image

The lander image is a futuristic concept model that looks nothing like the actual lander. If somebody can find a shareable image it would be great. Rowan Forest (talk) 00:58, 22 February 2019 (UTC)

Company and mission?

This article seems to be as much about the Beresheet mission as the SpaceIL company. Since it's currently a one-mission company, that isn't necessarily a problem. But it would feel strange to add information on the mission's current status or (eventually) its results, to an article about the company. At some point, do we want to split this into two articles? If so, when? Fcrary (talk) 21:45, 1 March 2019 (UTC)

My thought is that if the company actually goes commercial in several years from now, then we can split them. Rowan Forest (talk) 21:53, 1 March 2019 (UTC)

As Beresheet performed its lunar capture maneuver today and is scheduled to land in about a week, now would be a good time to give it its own article. — JFG ^talk 20:18, 4 April 2019 (UTC)

This article is short. The lander, if successful, will die within 48h, and this article is very unlikely to grow in significant content, other than an entry of its landing and quick death. If SpaceIL remains a one-hit-wonder then there is no benefit to split its contents. However, if in the future they venture into other commercial lander missions, then a split would be justified. Cheers, Rowan Forest (talk) 20:24, 6 April 2019 (UTC)

Let's leave it for now, but it they really remain one-mission company, I'd be tempted to turn this into an article on Beresheet and have a section on SpaceIL. If they don't end up doing anything else, I think future readers will care more about the first commercial lunar landing and the first Israeli lunar landing, than the company. Fcrary (talk) 21:17, 6 April 2019 (UTC)

@Fcrary:@Rowan Forest: Although the SpaceIL Beresheet is (currently) an one-off flight, there is interest inside Israel Aerospace Industries, the company that developed Beresheet to sell more lunar landers, according to IAI studying follow-on opportunities for SpaceIL lunar lander. Note this is a work separate from SpaceIL. Kind regards, Hms1103 (talk) 10:28, 7 April 2019 (UTC)

If SpaceIL remains a one-hit-wonder, I too think that it would be best to make Beresheet lander the title and main subject of this article. If IAI goes ahead to build commercial landers based on this technology, that would mean expanding the IAI article and only including a note in this article. Rowan Forest (talk) 15:00, 7 April 2019 (UTC)

The consensus by the Spaceflight Project editors is to not split at this time. Will revert the IP unilateral changes. Rowan Forest (talk) 00:22, 10 April 2019 (UTC)

• Each mission to the Moon has own article. 46.211.8.191 (talk) 00:25, 10 April 2019 (UTC)

 Not done For reasons stated above, not because of notability. Rowan Forest (talk) 00:38, 10 April 2019 (UTC)

 Done. More than 10 intwerwikies for Beresheet article. 46.211.8.191 (talk) 00:40, 10 April 2019 (UTC)

Article will be protected and you blocked. Enjoy your 10 mins. Rowan Forest (talk) 00:48, 10 April 2019 (UTC)

Vandal blocked for disrupting this and other articles. The question to Spaceflight Project editors is: leave them separate of together? Rowan Forest (talk) 15:03, 12 April 2019 (UTC)

Given the crash of the lander, and the lack of information on future endeavours by SpaceIL, I changed my mind and do not see a justification for an immediate split. — JFG ^talk 19:32, 12 April 2019 (UTC)

I agree about the split. At some point in the future, we'll have to decide if changing the name is appropriate. If most readers are looking for Beresheet and getting redirected, I'd favor a name change. But it's too soon to know that. Fcrary (talk) 19:44, 12 April 2019 (UTC)

I too think the article should not split and would be best to be named Beresheet. Rowan Forest (talk) 19:53, 14 April 2019 (UTC)

Organization name

Does anyone know what the "IL" part of SpaceIL means? Apologies if it is in the article and I missed it. — O'Dea (talk) 14:44, 6 March 2019 (UTC)

Their web site and interviews do not mention that. Rowan Forest (talk) 22:40, 6 March 2019 (UTC)

Israel's country code. Infantom (talk) 23:54, 6 March 2019 (UTC)

I thought it could be the country code but I don't find that documented as fact anywhere. I wanted to gloss the meaning of SpaceIL within the article, but I found no source to confirm my speculation. I won't add my speculation (or yours) to the article. — O'Dea (talk) 05:58, 11 March 2019 (UTC)

State owned

The article should reflect this instead of pretending it is a private company. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2A01:4C8:143F:E281:1:2:D1C4:4FE2 (talk) 10:38, 12 April 2019 (UTC)

Do you have a reference for that? A just saw a space.com article which says Mr. Kahn paid for 40% of the Beresheet mission out of his own pocket. And the mission was developed for the Google Lunar XPrize, which required privately funded missions only. Fcrary (talk) 20:52, 13 April 2019 (UTC)

False that it is government owned. Rowan Forest (talk) 19:56, 14 April 2019 (UTC)

A Commons file used on this page has been nominated for deletion

The following Wikimedia Commons file used on this page has been nominated for deletion:

• Beresheet Landing site.png

Participate in the deletion discussion at the nomination page. —Community Tech bot (talk) 19:21, 12 April 2019 (UTC)

Earth orbit

Is the moon really outside of earth's orbit? The line below should be adjusted...

  ...first Israeli spacecraft to travel beyond Earth's orbit.

Things that orbit the Moon are not in an Earth orbit, they are in a Moon orbit. --mfb (talk) 07:22, 10 May 2021 (UTC)