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Great to hear. We in Israel are also planning on sending a person to the moon soon: http://www.spaceil.com http://www.spaceil.com Innovation in the Middle East

Great to hear. We in Israel are also planning on sending a person to the moon soon: http://www.spaceil.com http://www.spaceil.com Innovation in the Middle East is much needed.

dchichkov 14y ago
I'm surprised, that you are glad to hear, that a country with relatively unstable government is making progress toward having ballistic missile capabilities. Actually scratch that. It is progress toward ICBMs, not just ballistic missiles. Here's a reference to the current state of the program: http://iranprimer.usip.org/resource/irans-ballistic-missile-program http://iranprimer.usip.org/resource/irans-ballistic-missile-... And a bit more recent update: http://www.iranwatch.org/wmd/wmd-iranmissileessay.htm http://www.iranwatch.org/wmd/wmd-iranmissileessay.htm
- benjlang 14y ago
  You're right, that is worrisome but I highly doubt it will reach that point. The US and Israel will never allow that to happen. If only the Iranian government cared about its people and making the world a better and more innovative place...
  - dchichkov 14y ago
    Well, one fact to keep in mind - developing capabilities to launch satellites [payload to orbit] is inseparable from capability to launch ICBMs. That's why first sputnik was both, so inspiring and so scary. As to 'never allowing this to happen'. There are no such guaranties. I'd guess, the opposite is true. Technology [and as a result advanced weaponry] is only getting more and more accessible.
- ucee054 14y ago
  a country with relatively unstable government is making progress toward having ballistic missile capabilities Is unstable a euphemism for bad bad bad or do you actually know a damn thing about Iranian stability? And who is Iran unstable relatively to? Congo? North Korea? Russia under Yeltsin?
anonymouz 14y ago
Wait what? The project you link to attempts to send a small robotic spacecraft to the moon, not a person. The project seems quite interesting, though it has a bit too much of a nationalistic angle for my taste (Their headline is "Sending our flag to the moon"... is that really the most important thing people see in the ability to send a probe to the moon?)
- benjlang 14y ago
  Ah good point, it will still make Israel the 3rd country to land on the moon though, even if it's not a human.
  - arethuza 14y ago
    They will need to be quick, China announced they are going to land a probe on the moon next year: http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jp07qg62ebKq6y4WalJN1IqPawmQ?docId=CNG.6f9c903daddae1e542de26ceff457f16.481 http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jp07qg62e...
  - nos4A2 14y ago
    Umm actually india already has, look up chandrayaan..
    - anonymouz 14y ago
      Chandrayaan was a "crash landing" of an impactor (there were four others of those, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moon_landing#20th.E2.80.9321st_century_unmanned_crash_landings https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moon_landing#20th.E2.80.9321st...). I think they claim they want to be the third nation to a land a small operating space craft on the moon, or something like that. I don't think that goal by itself is all that special, because in light of the fact that in the meantime many different nations have sent stuff to lunar orbit or to other planets, it doesn't seem like it would be particularly hard for any of them to land a small probe on the moon, it's just that they have prioritized different things. What would be impressive about SpaceIL would be that they would apparently be pulling it off with very little resources. But then again, there are many teams other than to SpaceIL in the Google Lunar X Prize competition, and at this point they may all have an equal right to claim to try to be the "third on the moon"...

Great to hear. We in Israel are also planning on sending a person to the moon soon: http://www.spaceil.com http://www.spaceil.com Innovation in the Middle East is much needed.

dchichkov 14y ago

I'm surprised, that you are glad to hear, that a country with relatively unstable government is making progress toward having ballistic missile capabilities. Actually scratch that. It is progress toward ICBMs, not just ballistic missiles. Here's a reference to the current state of the program: http://iranprimer.usip.org/resource/irans-ballistic-missile-program http://iranprimer.usip.org/resource/irans-ballistic-missile-... And a bit more recent update: http://www.iranwatch.org/wmd/wmd-iranmissileessay.htm http://www.iranwatch.org/wmd/wmd-iranmissileessay.htm

benjlang 14y ago
You're right, that is worrisome but I highly doubt it will reach that point. The US and Israel will never allow that to happen. If only the Iranian government cared about its people and making the world a better and more innovative place...
- dchichkov 14y ago
  Well, one fact to keep in mind - developing capabilities to launch satellites [payload to orbit] is inseparable from capability to launch ICBMs. That's why first sputnik was both, so inspiring and so scary. As to 'never allowing this to happen'. There are no such guaranties. I'd guess, the opposite is true. Technology [and as a result advanced weaponry] is only getting more and more accessible.
ucee054 14y ago
a country with relatively unstable government is making progress toward having ballistic missile capabilities Is unstable a euphemism for bad bad bad or do you actually know a damn thing about Iranian stability? And who is Iran unstable relatively to? Congo? North Korea? Russia under Yeltsin?

anonymouz 14y ago

Wait what? The project you link to attempts to send a small robotic spacecraft to the moon, not a person. The project seems quite interesting, though it has a bit too much of a nationalistic angle for my taste (Their headline is "Sending our flag to the moon"... is that really the most important thing people see in the ability to send a probe to the moon?)

benjlang 14y ago
Ah good point, it will still make Israel the 3rd country to land on the moon though, even if it's not a human.
- arethuza 14y ago
  They will need to be quick, China announced they are going to land a probe on the moon next year: http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jp07qg62ebKq6y4WalJN1IqPawmQ?docId=CNG.6f9c903daddae1e542de26ceff457f16.481 http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jp07qg62e...
- nos4A2 14y ago
  Umm actually india already has, look up chandrayaan..
  - anonymouz 14y ago
    Chandrayaan was a "crash landing" of an impactor (there were four others of those, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moon_landing#20th.E2.80.9321st_century_unmanned_crash_landings https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moon_landing#20th.E2.80.9321st...). I think they claim they want to be the third nation to a land a small operating space craft on the moon, or something like that. I don't think that goal by itself is all that special, because in light of the fact that in the meantime many different nations have sent stuff to lunar orbit or to other planets, it doesn't seem like it would be particularly hard for any of them to land a small probe on the moon, it's just that they have prioritized different things. What would be impressive about SpaceIL would be that they would apparently be pulling it off with very little resources. But then again, there are many teams other than to SpaceIL in the Google Lunar X Prize competition, and at this point they may all have an equal right to claim to try to be the "third on the moon"...