Privately funded moon landing failed maan

SpaceIL failed to land Beresheet on the moon in a controlled manner on Thursday evening. It was supposed to be the first privately funded moon landing, resulting from the Lunar X Prize competition, but the attempt failed.

Just before the actual landing, Beresheet had to deal with a setback, which caused the landing process ended in failure. First, the technicians reported problems with the telemetry, then there were engine problems, after which the communications team lost contact with Beresheet at 149 meters above the lunar surface. The lander probably crashed on the lunar surface because the engine that was supposed to slow down the spacecraft had problems. As a result, the speed was too high when approaching the surface.

The BBC reports that the key to success on this mission was a UK-built engine built by the Nammo company. This Leros rocket engine launched Beresheet into lunar orbit on April 4 and was also crucial for slowing down to ensure a soft landing on the lunar surface. Rob Westcott, a Nammo engineer, says his company has never used such an engine in such an application before. He describes that during the descent, the motor autonomously goes through a programmed process for twenty minutes, in which the motor is very precisely switched on, off and then switched on again. The significant heat in the engine may have contributed to the problems.

Beresheet, Hebrew for “in the beginning,” was a project of the non-profit organization SpaceIL. It was the first time Israel has sent an unmanned probe to the moon. SpaceIL stems from the Lunar X Prize competition for private moon landings. Google started this competition in 2007, but the deadline for participants expired in 2017. SpaceIL decided to continue anyway.

Beresheet 22 kilometers from the lunar surface Control dashboard just before landing