SpaceIL turns to Indiegogo to fund Israel’s first lunar mission

SpaceIL, a nonprofit organization aiming to land the first Israeli spacecraft on the Moon and a leading contestant in the prestigious Google Lunar X Prize  competition, announces the launch of its crowdfunding campaign. The crowdsourcing campaign is designed to not only raise funds for the highly innovative lunar project, but also to engage as broad an audience as possible with its mission to the Moon.

$240,000. That’s how much these folks need to launch Israel’s first lunar mission. In a new Indiegogo campaign, Israeli non-profit organization SpaceIL is seeking enough funding to get a foothold o Earth’s moon by the end of 2015. All this is part of Google’s Lunar XPrize competition. Said competition involves “$30 million in incentive-based prizes” for private companies that land on and travel around the Moon and broadcast transmissions from the Moon. “Teams may also compete for Bonus Prizes such as exploring lunar artifacts or surviving the lunar night, and can be awarded prize money earlier by completing terrestrial or in-space milestones.” In other words, this is definitely a for-profit mission.