Israel’s Beresheet Mission Crashes on the Moon

World’s first privately funded lunar Mission Beresheet crashed on the Moon. Beresheet crashed during a landing attempt. It is said that the spacecraft had problems with its main engine during its descent that left it unable to slow down in time before it smashed into the lunar surface.

About the Mission

• Beresheet (Hebrew for the first phrase from the Book of Genesis, “in the beginning”) was an Israeli mission launched by a partnership between nonprofit SpaceIL and government-owned aerospace company Israel Aerospace Industries.
• Beresheet lander had carried a science instrument provided by NASA, a retroreflector instrument scientists would have used to make precise measurements of the distance between Earth and the moon.
• Beresheet mission’s design included risks. To make sure the spacecraft small enough to piggyback with another spacecraft on a Falcon 9 rocket, the engineering team had to design the craft without any backup systems.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and SpaceIL have announced that the team will now start working on Beresheet 2.0.

Month: Current Affairs - April, 2019