Members of SpaceIL's board of directors announced Tuesday evening that they had decided at the end of an in-depth discussion that the "Beresheet 2" spacecraft will not fly to the moon, since such a project does not pose enough of a new challenge.
"The journey of Beresheet to the moon, despite the rough landing, has been etched in the consciousness of Israel and the world as a successful, groundbreaking journey that has many implications for the nature of the next human journeys to the moon," they said in an announcement.
"The feedback received from many professionals in the world in the last few weeks since the landing indicated that the mission was seen as an outstanding success and broke many world records, such as: the lowest-budget spacecraft, which made the largest distance to the moon, the smallest that arrived to it and the only project to the moon entirely financed by private means."
“Repeating a similar journey does not set the threshold required for groundbreaking missions, so it was decided to look for another significant challenge," the statement said.
The association's board of directors decided to involve the public in the process of choosing the challenge that Beresheet 2 will lead, as was done in the national mission to the moon. At the same time, the association will continue to focus on establishing the values of the “Beresheet effect" among the younger generation in Israel.