Little time? At the end of the text there is a summary.

The revolution begins almost hidden. When Friday morning around 2 pm Central European Time, a Falcon 9 rocket from SpaceX, based in the US, will depart from take off 40 at Cape Canaveral in Florida, the main payload at its peak is an Indonesian telecommunications satellite. He is called "Nusantara Satu" and is supposed to improve the internet connection in the Southeast Asian country with its thousands of islands. The satellite has given the mission its name.

But the rocket, which is flying into space for the third time, has something else on board. The Falcon 9 is also to bring the moon ferry developed by the Israeli team SpaceIL "Bereshit" on the way. And this - even with fuel only 600 kilograms heavy - mini-landing robot could become the first private spacecraft that touches down on the moon. By the way, the easiest way too.

"Bereshit" means something like "in the beginning", it is the name for the first book of Moses, begin with the Jewish Tanach and the Christian Old Testament. In fact, the mission would be a start, and what a! Almost exactly 50 years after the first manned moon landing by Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, it would herald a new era. An era in which not only state space agencies but also companies send probes to the moon. Also because they hope to earn money there.

"On Friday morning, we will write history," said Ido Antebi, the head of SpaceIL. In fact, only three states have landed gently on the moon: decades ago, the US and the Soviet Union. Later, the People's Republic of China followed - recently even on the opposite side of the Earth. All of these missions, however, were sent by billions of dollars of state space programs. Even India, which wants to land on the moon with "Chandrayaan 2" for the first time, does it this way.

On the other hand, "Bereschit" is different, with much of the funding coming from private investors, entrepreneur Morris Kahn and a foundation, the Adelson Family Foundation. "I do not want to be the richest man in the cemetery," Kahn said. "He wants to use his money as productively as possible." And I also want to feel like I've used it in a way I enjoy. " The US magazine "The Verge" reports that of the total $ 90 million in mission costs, only two million would be borne by the Israeli government.

Tomer Levi

Billionaire Morris Kahn (center) with space manager Opher Doron (left) and SpaceIL boss Ido Anteby (right)

If everything goes according to plan, the robot will first orbit the Earth many times over the coming weeks. The off-shore part of its orbit should move more and more away from the surface of our planet. In early April, Bereshit would be caught by the moon's gravity. The landing maneuver in the lunar region Mare Serenitatis, the sea of ​​serenity, is currently scheduled for April 11th. The date can still change.

After putting it on, the four-legged robot will have only a short life, even if everything goes smoothly. Because he lacks a cooling system, he might overheat after a few days. Before that, however, he should measure, among other things, the strength of lunar magnetism. This is interesting because, among other things, earlier missions in the basalt soil of the landing area had found a significantly increased rock density. And because "Bereshit" with rocket nozzles to make hops on the lunar surface, he could repeat the measurements in different places.

Also "Alina" from Berlin wants to go to the moon

No matter how it ends, the Bereshit mission is only the first of many private lunar flights in the coming years. SpaceIL is currently not profit-oriented, other moon drivers hope for revenue.

The company PTScientists from Berlin, for example, plans to launch the moon in the first quarter of 2020. If all goes well, the robot "Alina" should drop off two small rovers not far from the landing site of "Apollo 17". "We wish our colleagues at SpaceIL good luck and success," says PTScientists CEO Robert Böhme. The "hopefully successful" landing will prove that privately funded moon missions are possible. "With this, SpaceIL pushes forward the door for private space travel to the moon."

NASA

The moon (photographed from the International Space Station

The PTScientists had been racing for a while with SpaceIL. Both groups, along with others, entered the Google Lunar X Prize, which was awarded by a US foundation in 2007. More than $ 20 million was in the pipeline for the group that would first solve certain tasks on the moon with a robot: soft landing, travel 500 meters, send HD images and videos to Earth.

At the end of the competition, however, no team had managed to launch into space in time. The Google Lunar X Prize ended last year without a winner. But some groups, in addition to SpaceIL and the PTScientists and also the US companies Astrobotic and Moon Express, just kept going - because they now assume that they do not need any prize money for their budget. Instead, they want to earn money with regular transport flights to the moon.

This is interesting, for example, for research groups at universities who want to carry out experiments on the moon. For reasons of cost, such teams did not dare to think of their own lunar probe so far - and neither did they, for example, negotiate with SpaceX for the purchase of a rocket.

In the past, the story of the desired experiment would have ended here. But now the scientists can turn to one of the new, still small companies that offer deliveries to the lunar surface. There, inquiries of this kind are collected. When enough orders have been collected, the company buys a cargo space on a rocket, manufactures a lander and builds in the customer's experiments. Then it starts. The costs are shared between the users.

Nasa and Esa also want to work with private companies

In addition to researchers, telecommunications companies could also use such services - or private individuals who want to store items of any kind on the moon. Even NASA wants to buy transportation services to the moon of companies. And that's particularly interesting: On the one hand, the US space agency is planning together with international partners in the coming decade, a billionaire space station in the lunar orbit, the so-called gateway. It is a gigantic project, of which not all experts are convinced. Space travel in the old way, so to speak.

At the same time, NASA wants to get involved in privatization and work with commercial partners for fast and cheap lunar missions. For space of the new kind, the authority has launched up to 2.6 billion dollar heavy purchasing program, in which currently nine companies are involved. "If I could wish for it, I would like to fly this calendar year," says Nasa Science Director Thomas Zurbuchen. "Speed ​​is important to us, we want to start shooting the goal."

The European Space Agency Esa also wants to go to the moon with private partners. She's having a mission that involves extracting water and oxygen from lunar rocks. Together with Airbus, the PTScientists from Berlin also want to participate. The Bremen-based aerospace company OHB in turn has teamed up with Israel Aerospace Industries, where the Bereshit country was built.

So the private moon revolution is coming. If everything goes well, she starts with "Bereshit". If not, she starts a bit later. Setbacks are well planned: NASA manager Zurbuchen has expressed it for Nasa-sponsored flights: "We do not expect any of these launches or landings to be successful."

In short: The Israeli mission "Bereshit" is the first time that a probe has been flying to the moon, paid primarily by private donors and little by a state space agency. It is possible that the mission fails. But there will be more private flights to the moon. Several companies are trying to make money on the lunar surface with transport services. This is interesting, for example, for researchers who would not get money for a mission, but could send their instruments on a joint flight with others.