The Israeli non-profit organization will be deploying Beresheet 2 in the first half of 2024, which will make this their second attempt to reach the moon
SpaceIL, an Israeli nonprofit space organization's first attempt at sending a robotic spacecraft to the moon failed due to an accidental crash. However this year they are making a second attempt at deploying another spacecraft to the moon. The one they sent out in 2019 was named Beresheet (a Hebrew word that means "Genesis"), and Beresheet 2 was announced on 9th December 2020.
The Beresheet 2 has much more complex programming than its predecessor. The organization is claiming that the budget of this spacecraft will be approximately the same as the budget of the previous one, which is US$ 100 million. The organization has plans to launch the spacecraft in the first half of 2024.
In May 2019, one of NASA's photographs taken by its spacecraft, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, showed the scar made by Beresheet on the moon. The investigation on the reason for the crash revealed that the component tracking the orientation of the lander failed, which the controllers tried resetting before unintentionally shutting down the engine and that destroyed the spacecraft.
According to the two founders of SpaceIL, Kfir Damari, and Yonatan Winetraub, Beresheet 2's design will be a lot different from the previous one. Their main focus is to make something unique and meaningful to complete the mission this time. The two landers which will be adjusted in the Beresheet 2 will be much smaller than the spacecraft used in the first mission. The landers will be approximately 260 pounds each, fully fueled, and will be landing in different parts of the moon. The orbiter will be encircling the moon for a minimum of 2 years. However, the organization will be using old spare parts of the Beresheet to make Beresheet 2. The founders are very confident that this time the mission will be accomplished. This launch will again enable SpaceIL to collaborate with the Israel Aerospace Industries.
