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Six days after the Israeli spacecraft Beresheet crashed on the moon, SpaceIL on Wednesday said it had concluded the first stage of its internal investigation into why the engine failed during the landing attempt.
According to the investigation, a malfunction has been discovered in an acceleration sensor called IMU. This is a reaction to the feedback that causes the engine to turn off.
Without the engine running speed, it was impossible to slow down from 1,700 kilometers per hour (1,000 mph) to 0 just above the moon's surface. Engineers were able to restart the engine, but by that time the spacecraft was too close to the surface to slow down sufficiently.
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The first stage of the investigation only deals with the understanding of the sequence of events, so it is not yet clear why the sensor malfunctioned.
Beresheet on display before its launch, December 17, 2018. (Ariel Schalit / AP)
"SpaceIL CEO Ido Anteby told reporters at a briefing.
"We still have an assessment as to why the malfunction happened," he added. "We have not examined the decision-making, just the sequence of events. The spacecraft has been shut down again. We can see five or six attempts to turn on the engine.
"When we finish the full and detailed investigation we will have many takeaways for the next mission," Anteby said, adding that the process would take several weeks.
Engineers believe the first problems started at about 14 kilometers (8.5 miles) above the lunar surface. At 150 meters (500 feet) above the moon's surface, communication was lost completely. At this point, the spacecraft was moving at 500 kph (310 mph), making a collision with the lunar surface "inevitable," spokeswoman for the Beresheet team said last Friday.
Morris Kahn speaks on Channel 12, April 13, 2019 (screenshot)
SpaceIL chairman Morris Kahn on Saturday announced he was launching project Beresheet 2, effective immediately, adding: "We started something and we need to finish it. We'll put our flag on the moon. "
On Wednesday, SpaceIL said it has already begun working on Beresheet 2 and that Kahn and his team have had several meetings on the subject and are in the process of outlining the project and deciding your budget, timetable, manpower, fundraising and more.
"We hope we can complete the project within two years," it said.
The first spacecraft was budgeted at $ 100 million (NIS 370 million), a fraction of the cost of vehicles by the major powers US, Russia and China in the past. It was a joint venture between private companies SpaceIL and Israel Aerospace Industries, privately funded donations from well-known Jewish philanthropists.
Melanie Lidman contributed to this report.
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