Beresheet 2

Beresheet 2 is a proposed private space mission intended to land two spacecraft on the Moon. Upon reaching the Moon, the spacecraft would split into three: an orbiter and two landers that would be released for landing at different locations on the Moon. The orbiter would continue to orbit the Moon on a long-term multi-year mission. This would be the first-ever dual-lander deployment mission, with the smallest landers to ever soft-land on the Moon.^[1] It would have a budget of US$100 million, similar to that of Beresheet, and would include more international collaboration, with the United Arab Emirates and Italy among countries expressing interest.^[2][3] The project was planned to include a substantial component of educational activities and an outreach program for the public in the partnering countries. As of 2025, the mission was suspended due to lack of funding.^[4]

The mission was announced by the SpaceIL voluntary association, shortly after the conclusion of the first Beresheet mission in April 2019.^[5] It was announced on 26 June 2019, that the mission will not target the Moon, and instead it will be to another undisclosed object.^[6][7] On 25 November 2019, it was simultaneously announced that the Moon would indeed be the target of Beresheet 2, and that SpaceIL plans to send another lander to Mars.^[8][9]

On 16 January 2020, SpaceIL announced that they have officially started to work on Beresheet 2, as they were given the first million-dollar funding for the spacecraft. On 5 February 2020, Shimon Sarid was appointed as CEO of SpaceIL. In this role, Sarid would lead the Beresheet 2 project.^[10] In July 2020, engineer Yoav Heichal, former chief engineer of Better Place Ltd, has joined the program as a structural engineer. The program was officially launched by Israel's former president, Reuven Rivlin, on 9 December 2020 and announced that the Beresheet 2 Moon mission would launch in 2024, consisting of an orbiter and two landers.^[11] SpacelL was leading the program with the support of the Israel Space Agency.^[12]

In July 2021, the Beresheet 2 program raised 70 million dollars from a group of donors: the Patrick & Lina Drahi family foundation, Morris Kahn, and the Moshal Space Foundation.^[13] At World Space Week in Dubai in October 2021, Israel and the UAE ministers of science and technology announced plans for cooperation on the mission.^[14] In January 2025, Israel Space Agency and Italian Space Agency signed a memorandum of understanding for collaboration on the mission, but any joint budget for the mission had not been decided.^[3]

In April 2025, SpaceIL has suspended the work on the Beresheet 2 Moon mission after failing to secure funding.^[4][15]