A newly signed partnership between NASA and Israel’s space agency will support a 2019 lunar mission for SpaceIL, an Israeli nonprofit.NASA said Wednesday it will provide a laser retroreflector array to facilitate the mission’s ground tracking activities.
The U.S. space agency will also support the mission’s communication needs via the Deep Space Network.
The mission plans to leverage SpaceIL’s lunar magnetometer, geared to measure the landing site’s magnetic field.
NASA will gain access to the mission’s gathered data, which would then be available at the U.S.-based space agency’s Planetary Data System.
