Israel’s spacecraft failed in its attempt to make history as the first privately funded lunar mission.
The SpaceIL spacecraft lost contact with Earth late on Thursday, 11 April, just moments before it was to land on the moon, and scientists declared the mission a failure.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who was on hand for what organizers had hoped to be a celebration said, “If at first you don't succeed, try try again.”
If the mission were a success, Israel would have become the fourth country to reach the moon other than the United States, former Soviet Union and China.
The 585-kilogramme (1,290-pound) Beresheet, which means “Genesis” in Hebrew, is an unmanned spacecraft resembling a tall, oddly shaped table with round fuel tanks under the top.
The journey is 3,84,000 kilometres (239,000 miles), but Beresheet will travel a total of 6.5 million kilometres due to a series of orbits.
Its speed has reached 10 kilometres per second, (36,000 kilometres per hour).
NGO SpaceIL and state-owned Israel Aerospace Industries launched Beresheet from Cape Canaveral in Florida on 22 February with a Falcon 9 rocket from Elon Musk’s private US-based SpaceX company.
What is the Mission?
For Israel, the landing itself is the main mission, but the spacecraft also carries a scientific instrument to measure the lunar magnetic field, which will help understanding of the moon's formation.
The data will be shared with US space agency NASA.
It also carries a “time capsule” loaded with digital files containing a Bible, children’s drawings, Israeli songs, memories of a Holocaust survivor and the blue-and-white Israeli flag.
“While this is a great step for Israel, it is a huge step for Israeli technology,” Netanyahu said at the time of the launch.
How Much Did the Project Cost?
The cost of the project is some USD 100 million, with private philanthropists providing funding, particularly businessman Morris Kahn.
The project began as part of the Google Lunar XPrize, which in 2010 offered USD 30 million in awards to encourage scientists and entrepreneurs to come up with relatively low-cost moon missions.
Although the Google prize expired in March without a winner having reached the moon, Israel's team pledged to push forward.
The project includes other partners, among them the Swedish Space Corporation, whose ground satellite station network provided support.
NASA has made its Deep Space Network available to transmit data and has installed a small laser retroreflector aboard the lander to test its potential as a navigation tool.
India Hopes to Become the Fifth Lunar Country
India hopes to become the fifth lunar country in the spring with its Chandrayaan-2 mission. It aims to put a craft with a rover onto the moon’s surface to collect data.
US President Donald Trump’s administration announced in March it was speeding up plans to send American astronauts back to the moon, bringing forward the target date from 2028 to 2024.
Japan plans to send a small lunar lander, called SLIM, to study a volcanic area around 2020-2021.
The United States remains the only country to have walked on the moon, with 12 astronauts having taken part in six missions between 1969 and 1972.
(With inputs from AFP)
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)