Israel’s SpaceIL secures funds for new lunar mission

Opher Doron, general manager of Israel Aerospace Industries’ space division, speaks beside the SpaceIL lunar module (Ilan Ben Zion/AP)

SpaceIL, the nonprofit Israeli initiative whose spacecraft crashed on the moon two years ago, has said that it has secured 70 million dollars (£50 million) in funding to make a second attempt at a lunar landing.

SpaceIL said the new pledges means that it has raised almost all of the 100 million dollars (£71.9 million) it estimates is needed for the mission to meet its 2024 launch target.