With all the fanfare surrounding going to Mars, it's easy to forget about the humble piece of rock circling the Earth.
Good thing not everyone has.
An Israeli nonprofit called SpaceIL plans to visit the moon by the end of 2017. If the mission happens, it will mark the first time a lunar mission is backed by private donors, rather than government funds.
SpaceIL made the announcement as part of its entry in the Google Lunar Xprize, a $30 million competition to send an unmanned rover to the moon.
To win the prize money, the rover has to roam around for at least 500 meters and snap high-definition video and images that can be sent back to Earth.
SpaceIL is the first to sign a contract among the 16 total entrants, though all aim to eventually get to the moon.
The team will be sending its rover by way of the SpaceX Falcon 9 launcher (The US-based space company Spaceflight Industries originally purchased the rocket and SpaceIL is now partnering with it to land the spacecraft safely on the moon.)
"Only three countries have 'soft-landed' a rover on the surface of the moon: the United States, the former Soviet Union, and China," said SpaceIL CEO Eran Privman, in a statement. "Now the notion of the small state of Israel being added to this exclusive list look more promising than ever."
Here's a look at the spacecraft's components:
If all goes according to plan, the Falcon 9 launcher will take the spacecraft into space, assume a trajectory bound for the moon, and detach from the capsule bound for the lunar surface.
Once the capsule detaches, a navigation system will guide it toward a safe landing.
The mission is similar to those pursued by other companies, including SpaceX itself. A string of launch and landing failures have kept the company's Falcon 9 from reaching what many see as its full, interstellar potential.
Now that SpaceIL has announced its launch contract, the remaining 15 teams have until December 31, 2016, to announce their own launch contracts.
According to Xprize, parts for the newly updated spacecraft are already beginning to arrive at the team's facility in preparation for the 2017 launch.
"This takes us one huge step closer to [realizing] our vision of recreating an 'Apollo effect' in Israel," Privman said, referring to the 1969 space craze that got a generation of American kids interested in science.
Israelis won't be setting foot on the moon, but they'll be breaking major ground nonetheless.
