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Israel’s Beresheet Spacecraft Moon Landing Attempt Appears to End in Crash

nytimes.com

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Re: Israel’s Beresheet Spacecraft Moon Landing Attempt Appears to End in Crash

#201

Post by philsnow »

rtkwe wrote: post #58
hirundo wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

With a population of < 3% of the USA, < 1% of China.

To be fair the hardest and most expensive part was handled by a US company. Many small countries have put satellites up using launchers from the larger players.

Also a lot of countries have an advantage in space access over Israel: Israel prefers to launch on retrograde orbit flight paths so that any debris falls into the Mediterranean instead of on their neighbors to the east. I don't blame them for hitching a ride.

Re: Israel’s Beresheet Spacecraft Moon Landing Attempt Appears to End in Crash

#202

Post by Medraut »

SEJeff wrote: post #194
Medraut wrote: post #188

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This! While my sentiment may feel a bit Star Trekky/naive, our quest to get to the stars will only succeed if we, as a planet, pull together. If we dont, we'll be limited to this solar system. China, US, India, Israel, Russia (sorry for anyone else Im missing :-)), are all pioneers and we should celebrate their successes, and continued desire to push the envelope.

The issue every single country you listed is that space tech and ICBM tech are virtually the same. Those countries are good at it because they make excellent missiles for war. It is a sad reality. NASA and the DoD work hand in hand together, and virtually always have.

I completely agree. War drives innovation, its a very sad reality. Though in order to get further than our solar system, we'll either need to destroy ourselves, or combine our resources. Some are already trying, and its great. Others have a way to go before realizing this. Very altruistic, I know. Though I think some altruism is needed!

Re: Israel’s Beresheet Spacecraft Moon Landing Attempt Appears to End in Crash

#203

Post by 00N8 »

protomyth wrote: post #192
moate wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Right, and I'm sure they didn't get any tech or mission critical help from the US. Don't get me wrong, good on them for doing this, but let's not pretend like this happened in a bubble away from anyone else.

To be fair, the United States didn’t exactly start with home grown talent either.

relevant xkcd https://xkcd.com/984/

Re: Israel’s Beresheet Spacecraft Moon Landing Attempt Appears to End in Crash

#204

Post by nir »

SEJeff wrote: post #189
dmix wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The prime minister of Isreal announced they'll try again in two years. So that judgment may be a little premature. Regardless knowledge transfer isn't limited to either of those.

Prime Minister Netanyahu? There is a strong chance he'll be indicted and convicted, even though his new coalition is looking to dissolve the power of the judiciary (to bury his criminal indictments): https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/israel-prime-minister-ben...

It doesn't make much difference any way. It's a private venture, his statement was just meant as cheer leading / consolation. I do hope they'll have another go, but it has very little to do with who's in government.

Re: Israel’s Beresheet Spacecraft Moon Landing Attempt Appears to End in Crash

#205

Post by mirimir »

moate wrote: post #34
hirundo wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

With a population of < 3% of the USA, < 1% of China.

Right, and I'm sure they didn't get any tech or mission critical help from the US. Don't get me wrong, good on them for doing this, but let's not pretend like this happened in a bubble away from anyone else.

They also got a fair number of Russian engineers.

Re: Israel’s Beresheet Spacecraft Moon Landing Attempt Appears to End in Crash

#206

Post by mola »

Taniwha wrote: post #132
I-M-S wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So hubris?

I think the tempting fate bit comes from inviting the politicians into the control room

Netanyahu has a tendency to credit himself with any Israeli achievement as part of his personality cult he is encouraging. I bet he made it obvious that he is going to be in the control room.

Re: Israel’s Beresheet Spacecraft Moon Landing Attempt Appears to End in Crash

#207

Post by nir »

brandmeyer wrote: post #80
jesseab wrote: post #16

It's time to retire the tired old nation-state space-race narrative. We're all in this together people. Their failure is our failure.

Nothing could be further from the truth. These folks are fierce with nationalistic and sectarian pride in their vehicle. https://mobile.twitter.com/teamspaceil/status/11163129311033...

It took me a while to understand what's going on in these comments before I was reminded of the 30 Rock episode where a Canadian character has trouble understanding sarcasm because there aren't many Jews there.

But still, did you all miss the winking emoji right there following the text?

Re: Israel’s Beresheet Spacecraft Moon Landing Attempt Appears to End in Crash

#208

Post by mola »

TallGuyShort wrote: post #177
reitanqild wrote: post #176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

? If anything I feel I have to watch my words on HN, compared to when I speak with people living around me or people at places I've lived before. HN also feels extremely safe compared to certain other places I've visited online.

It's tongue-in-cheek. I think it's dumb that criticizing hubris in the manner seen in this comment thread is seen as hateful just because hubris is part of someone's culture.

Well, I'm Israeli, and hubris is not part of my personal culture, but it is prevalent in Israel. IMHO it's a real problem for Israel because people here tend to be euphoric and unaware of the consequences of our decisions. On the other hand, it does make us more daring and in today's world it is a great way to "succeed"

Re: Israel’s Beresheet Spacecraft Moon Landing Attempt Appears to End in Crash

#209

Post by rmason »

I am not sure what connection that Buzz Aldrin had to the folks at SpaceIL but thought he had a pretty classy tweet tonight. Guess everyone in the space community pulls for each other.

https://twitter.com/TheRealBuzz/status/1116458014708420608

Re: Israel’s Beresheet Spacecraft Moon Landing Attempt Appears to End in Crash

#210

Post by mola »

brandmeyer wrote: post #113
RIMR wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Honestly, I consider this consent to mock them for their failure. This cockiness is on the same level as calling the Titanic "The Unsinkable". They wanted to fail modestly, they should have behaved modestly.

My point really wasn't that these folks got what's coming to them for their arrogance. My point is that this isn't a mission of international we're-all-in-this-together cooperation. It is very much viewed by the Israeli's running the mission as a part of the nation-state space race.

It's true. As an Israeli it's a very secreterian narrative was built around this endeavor. We have in Israel a very deep rooted siege mentality, which considering our history is not surprising. Our current powers at be foster this feeling of pride and fear because it is a great way to keep political power. It is rather sad that every Israeli endeavour is tainted by these sentiments. I am trying to ignore it but I kind of hoped for failure, I thought I couldn't handle the nationalistic euphoria orgy we would have in the media if we did land.
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