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SpaceIL has suspended the engineering development of the Beresheet 2 mission—the planned second Israeli lunar lander—after failing to secure the necessary funding. As a result, the organization has been forced to lay off about 25 project employees and consultants and freeze contracts with key suppliers.
However, SpaceIL’s educational initiatives will continue as usual. The organization’s SpaceUP program currently operates in 16 schools, alongside other educational activities, including leading the Israeli Space Educators Community (“Horizon”) and volunteer lectures for children and teenagers. SpaceIL confirmed the details of the funding shortfall but declined to comment further at this stage.
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Full-size model of the Beresheet 2 lunar lander at the SpaceIL offices
(Photo: Ettay Nevo, Davidson Institute for Science Education)
SpaceIL was founded in 2010 by three young engineers—Yonatan Winetraub, Yariv Bash, and Kfir Damari—who aimed to compete in Google’s Lunar X-Prize competition, which promised a $20 million reward for the first private team to land a spacecraft on the Moon. Though the competition ended without a winner, SpaceIL pressed forward, ultimately launching the Beresheet spacecraft in 2019. Israel became the seventh nation to send a spacecraft into lunar orbit, but a series of technical failures caused the lander to crash on the Moon’s surface during its landing attempt.
Despite the setback, SpaceIL leaders and other stakeholders quickly vowed that another Beresheet mission would follow. Less than two years after the crash, the Beresheet 2 mission was unveiled at the Israeli president’s residence. This ambitious new mission was designed to include two lunar landers and a satellite that would remain in orbit around the Moon for several years. One lander was planned to touch down on the near side of the Moon, while the other aimed to become the first privately funded spacecraft to land on the far side.
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Crash site of the Beresheet 1 moon lander
(Photo: NASA)
The project’s budget was expected to be similar to that of Beresheet 1, which cost approximately $100 million. Most of the funding came from a group of donors led by Patrick Drahi and Morris Kahn, the primary backer of the original mission. However, in mid-2023, the donor group announced it would no longer support the project. SpaceIL launched an urgent effort to find alternative funding, but the outbreak of war on October 7, 2023, made fundraising even more challenging.
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The organization’s board of directors repeatedly extended deadlines to secure funding, but by the final deadline—March 2025—the necessary funds had not been raised, forcing the suspension of the project.
With support from the Israel Space Agency, SpaceIL sought international partnerships to revive the mission’s funding prospects. The most recent attempt took place at the Space Conference in Tel Aviv in January 2025, when the Israeli and Italian space agencies signed a letter of intent regarding potential collaboration on Beresheet 2. Following this agreement, SpaceIL representatives held technical discussions with their Italian counterparts. Sources familiar with the talks revealed that one proposal considered replacing one of the planned landers with small scientific satellites provided by Italy. However, no binding agreement has been reached.
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Israel Space Agency Director General Uri Oron (left) signs the agreement with his Italian counterpart, Teodoro Valente
(Photo: Ittay Nevo, Davidson Institute for Science Education)
A mission still in limbo
SpaceIL officials emphasized that freezing the mission does not mean it has been abandoned. Alongside its continued educational initiatives, the organization remains committed to finding a way to restart the project. Efforts have also been made to preserve the engineering knowledge developed during the mission, ensuring that if funding becomes available, work can resume from where it left off, potentially allowing for a launch within three years.
Experts from both SpaceIL and the Israel Space Agency stress the significance of the lunar mission—not only from a national perspective but also for advancing science and space exploration in Israel, positioning the country as a leader in the space industry, and inspiring youth and students in STEM fields. Despite widespread recognition of the mission’s importance, a funding source has yet to be secured.
The Ministry of Innovation, Science, and Technology stated that it is reviewing the situation but has declined to comment at this time.
- Content distributed by the Davidson Institute of Science Education