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One of the last images taken by Beresheet before his crash on the Moon was this "selfie" on the descent, showing a portion of the undercarriage and the lunar surface below. (credit: SpaceIL) |
by Jeff Foust
Monday, April 15, 2019
The good news last Thursday was that SpaceIL broadcast a live webcast of its control mission in the Israeli city of Yehud. Viewers could see the controllers at their consoles while, on the other side of a giant window, guests, including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Benjamin Netanyahu, had gathered to follow the news. 39; landing. People could see in real time what happened with the historic landing attempt.
| At first, everything seemed to go as planned, Doron said. "The spaceship is doing exactly what it is supposed to do right now." |
The bad news, at least for most of the viewers who were outside of Israel, was that the debates were mostly in Hebrew: it was understandable, given the audience for this event, Israeli people – the purpose of the mission was to stimulate the interest in engineering science among Israeli students, rather than trying to make money – but that remains a challenge for those who do not speak the language fluently to understand what was happening. Fortunately, many of the web-based images, including those of the Beresheet LG's altitude and speed, were in English and there was also a small commentary in English.
"We have passed the point of no return. We are in the process of landing, "said Opher Doron, general manager of Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) 's space division, the maker of the LG, at the beginning of the process. ;landing. All eyes were on the screens that indicated the altitude of the undercarriage and its main engine running.
At first, everything seemed to go as planned. "We are braking. The braking process works well, "said Doron. "The spaceship is doing exactly what it is supposed to do right now."
Until something went wrong. The show was cut off from telemetry to display a "selfie" taken by the spacecraft as it descended to the surface, showing a portion of the landing gear itself with the lunar surface at l & # 39; background. Shortly after, the controllers reported a problem with a unit of inertial measurement (IMU) on the LG and telemetry was frozen for some time. "We lost telemetry for a few moments and now we have telemetry again," said Doron.
This telemetry, however, indicated that the vertical speed of the undercarriage was increasing as it descended, the box containing this information on the screen changing color from green to yellow to red, suggesting that something was going wrong. Those who controlled the mission looked nervously. "It seems like we have a problem with our main engine," said Doron. "We reset the spaceship to try to activate the engine."
A moment later, he said, "We have the main machine running."
"No, no," said someone else with applause. "But it's not …" He did not continue his sentence, but a look at the telemetry screen explained everything: it was frozen at 149 meters from the altitude, descended at a speed of 134 meters per second, far too fast for this to happen. to land safely.
Beresheet had not succeeded. "We had a spaceship failure. We unfortunately did not manage to land, "said Doron a few minutes later. "It's an extraordinary feat, so far."
| "It feels like we're back in Mojave to launch SpaceShipOne," Ansari said from control of the mission before landing. "The smiles on all faces are incredible." |
Since its launch in February as a secondary payload on a Falcon 9, Beresheet had encountered some problems: a computer problem that required the controllers to reprogram a maneuver to climb into its transfer orbit and star followers too exposed to the sun . The mission, however, overcame these problems and went into orbit a week earlier, making Israel the seventh country to do so (see "Science, Trade and the Moon," The Space Review, April 8, 2019). .
The cause of the failure remains under study. "Preliminary data provided by the SpaceIL and Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) engineering teams suggest that a technical problem in one of the Beresheet components has triggered the chain of "Events that" caused the malfunction of the main engine, said SpaceIL in a statement Friday.
The problems began, said SpaceIL, at an altitude of about 14 kilometers, which seemed to be close to the point where the UIM malfunction was reported. "Beresheet solved the problem by restarting the engine. However, at that time, his speed was too fast to slow down and the landing could not be completed as planned. "
The landing ended an effort that dated back to the beginning of the Google Lunar X PRICE for the construction of a lunar lander that would capture the $ 20 million grand prize but would also have an inspiring effect in Israel, analogous to the Apollo program in America. half a century ago. With the technical support of IAI and funds largely from philanthropic sources, SpaceIL has become one of the leaders to win the award and continued its efforts even after the expiry of the price a year ago.
As a consolation prize, the X PRIZE Foundation offered a million-dollar "Moonshot Prize" to SpaceIL if Beresheet landed successfully. "I am so excited," said Anousheh Ansari, CEO of the foundation, during a phone interview shortly before the landing attempt. Ansari, whose family sponsored the first Ansari X PRIZE award for a suborbital flight won by SpaceShipOne almost 15 years ago, was under the control of the mission during the landing attempt. "It's like we're back in Mojave to launch SpaceShipOne. The smiles on all faces are incredible. "
After the failure of the landing, Peter Diamandis, president of Ansari and the X PRIZE Foundation, still decided to award the prize to SpaceIL. "They managed to touch the surface of the moon, and that's what we were looking for our Moonshot reward," Ansari said in a video posted shortly after landing.
"And in addition to touching the surface of the moon, they touched the life and heart of a whole nation, of a whole world," added Diamandis. "It shows that these prices are not easy and, frankly, the space is not easy. Not yet."
This will be an important lesson for those looking to send commercial landers to the moon in the coming years, carrying payloads for NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services program or for other customers. "Every attempt to reach new milestones opens up opportunities for us to learn, adjust and move forward," said NASA's administrator, Jim Bridenstine, in a statement after the ####################################### Failure of his landing. "I have no doubt that Israel and SpaceIL will continue to explore and look forward to celebrating their future achievements."
| "We will install it on the moon and complete the mission," said Kahn in a brief video. |
SpaceIL was to be a one-time effort, although IAI said it was looking for commercial opportunities for Beresheet-based landers. According to IAI executives, future versions of the LG could carry 30 to 60 kilograms of scientific payloads and incorporate improvements such as precision landing technologies.
SpaceIL, however, can get a second shot. On Saturday, SpaceIL billionaire president Morris Kahn, who contributed more than $ 40 million to the $ 100 million project, announced a lunar lander "Beresheet 2". "We will place it on the moon and finish the mission," he said in a brief video. The details on how this LG will be developed and financed have not been disclosed.
Part of the funding, however, could come directly from the Israeli government. Netanyahu suggested that this could happen in the remarks after the failed landing. "If at first you do not succeed, you try again," he said.
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