Engineers detail problems that pushed Beresheet to make its way into the moon

Engineers on Friday released preliminary data on what they thought had gone wrong in the last moments of the Beresheet flight, a day after the Israeli spacecraft crashed on the moon.

Engineers believe that a technical problem – probably related to the component that measures the altitude of the spacecraft relative to the surface – triggered a chain reaction of events that caused the main engine to shut down. spacecraft.

Without the main engine as the braking mechanism, it was impossible to slow the Beresheet speed from 1,700 kilometers per hour (1,000 mph) to 0 just above the surface of the moon. The engineers were able to restart the engine, but at that time the spacecraft was too close to the surface to slow down enough.

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Engineers believe that the first problems began about 14 kilometers above the lunar surface. At 150 meters above the surface of the moon, communication was completely lost. At this point, the probe was moving at 500 km / h, which made the collision with the lunar surface "inevitable," according to a Beresheet team spokesperson.

In-depth testing will take place next week to better understand the events.

"To our knowledge, we were very close to the moon," said operations control director Alex Friedman to engineers at SpaceIL's control room in Yehud, east of Tel Aviv, after communicating with the spaceship Thursday night. "We are on the moon, but not as we wished."

The former astronaut and second man on the moon, Buzz Aldrin, expressed his condolences to the team behind the Beresheet probe, which crashed to the moon's surface during its landing attempt on Thursday night, saying the project was "inspiring".

"Condolences to the LG Beresheet @TeamSpaceIL for what was almost! The communications were lost with the spacecraft just 150 meters (!!!) above the surface and he was unable to block the landing. Never lose hope – your hard work, teamwork and innovation inspire everyone! ", Tweeted Aldrin, a member of the American Apollo 11 mission on the moon in 1969.

The spacecraft had a budget of 100 million dollars (370 million NIS), a fraction of the cost of vehicles launched on the moon by the major powers American, Russian and Chinese in the past. It was a joint venture between the private companies SpaceIL and Israel Aerospace Industries, funded almost entirely by private donations from well-known Jewish philanthropists.