INNOVATION AND ACTIVISM

Kfir Damari

Founder, SpaceIL

Israel’s many accomplishments do not include a trip to the Moon - yet. Kfir Damari and his partners hope to change that through their project SpaceIL, Israel’s bid to win the Google Lunar Xprize. The prize of $20 million goes to whichever team can send a robotic probe to the Moon, land it, move it 500 meters, and broadcast information back to Earth.

SpaceIL has already distinguished itself among the contestants, as it was the last to enter but the first to receive funding for their proposal. But Damari sees the competition as more than simply a bid to land on another world.

“We want to land the craft, but the vision is much bigger,” he said. “It is important to us that this is the first Israeli spacecraft and not the last.”

Indeed, the goal of SpaceIL is to foster the future of Israel’s technology industry. Damari says the group’s goal is to get kids “excited about the science and technology behind our spacecraft and the scientific mission it will carry. … I tell kids that it’s their job to build a spacecraft that brings ours back to Israel.” (Photo: Twitter.)