SpaceIL Spacecraft Isn't Successful in Landing on the Moon
Israel succeeded in getting its spacecraft in orbit around the moon, however an engine problem during the landing attempt caused the spacecraft to crash. Prime Minister Netanyahu in attendance said shortly after the news that “if you don’t first succeed, try again.” No doubt Israel will try again. A nation came together on what started as a Google Lunar X Prize entry. It can celebrate the effort and achievements it made along the way.
Netenhayu did not look too pleased to say the least.
But on the bright side they will have no trouble getting funding for another attempt as this was labeled a national moment. They just have to figure out what went wrong with the main engine, and communications. Was it software, or hardware?
Perhaps Bibi wanted to use the occasion to announce the first Lunar settlements :_>
The latest story from the BBC says it was a “glitch”, which isn’t too informative. But they quote someone from the company who made the main engine. “Robert Westcott, a senior propulsion engineer at Nammo Westcott, said: ‘It appears that a glitch, perhaps with a sensor, may have caused the on-board computer to erroneously shut down the main engine.”
I still salute their tenacity. They overcame all other obstacles, and — while I know zip Hebrew – it looked as though it was right on course for its target (now not the best choice of term) landing site. Now…. there’s a new crater on Ol’ Luna, likely on the zero-zero point of the trajectory.
Keep at it IL!!
How sad. My condolences to the team. I do hope they try again.
I wish all the reports on this didn’t talk about a “failed” or “unsuccessful” landing. Beresheet is, in fact, on the surface. It wasn’t a soft or a controlled landing, but it was still a landing.
Seriously, they will probably try again (I hope) and they almost got it right on the first try. No, they got a whole long list of things completely right, had a couple of correctable glitch on the way to the Moon, and a descent engine which had to be reset on the way down (unfortunately not correctable.) That’s like scoring 997 on a 1000 question exam. Let’s look at the bright side.
I wonder what are the odds any of the laser reflecting panels ended up in a position where it will still reflect. I also wonder if NASA will image the site with the LRO.
The odds aren’t good for the reflectometer. If it survived the impact, I’d guess the odds of it being oriented correctly and unblocked by debris would be at least 5%. Corner reflectors are pretty insensitive to orientation (that’s actually the whole point.) But that wasn’t a slow impact. I didn’t catch the last numbers, but I think Beresheet hit at a speed of something like 100 m/s (225 mph.) So I suspect the reflectometer didn’t survive in a functional condition, regardless of how it’s positioned.
As far as LRO imaging the site, I’m fairly sure they will do so. NASA used MRO to image the Beagle and Schiaparelli crash sites on Mars. And did Mars archeology by identifying the Mars 3 landing site (probably.) I’m confident they will put in a similar effort for Beresheet.
Hmm, 5% odds might be worth a try by some observatory to check on it. I assume the cost wouldn’t be too high if they combine it with a regular laser measurement of one of the existing reflectors.
That’s if the reflector survived a hard landing. That’s a big if. But I don’t think it would work with an Earth-based observatory. The reflector is pretty small, and the original plan was to use the laser altimeter on LRO. That might actually have a better chance of success. If it’s intact, the reflector might be pointed sideways and not observable from directly overhead (i.e. from the Earth.) It’s still a long shot, but if it were up to me, I’d give it a try. LRO is deep into its extended mission, and that’s a good time to try some more speculative observations which might not pan out.
Mr. Musk can relate some stories about perseverance when starting a project, and the sweet smell of final success.
This was Israel’s first try at landing a probe on the Moon. How many Russian and, yes U.S. probes failed before they got a good landing? And note that this was a private enterprise effort, NOT government sponsored. I hope they can raise the funds to try again. “fcrary”‘s comments are spot on!
Well that’s too bad. Landing on another planetary body ain’t easy…
Yes, and I once heard a Rosetta scientist at a conference claim Philae had made the first _three_ landings on a comet. If you count the unplanned bounces.