Has NASA's experience survived the lunar crash? Beresheet?

A NASA piggyback experiment set at the top of the Israeli spacecraft "Beresheet" may have survived the lunar landing missed by the spacecraft, experts said.

Beresheet was just minutes from landing on the moon on April 11, when contact with the spacecraft was lost and it crashed to the surface of the moon.

The probe had taken away a "time capsule" containing digital files, including a Bible, children's drawings, Israeli songs, memoirs of a Holocaust survivor, and a blue Israeli flag. White.

according to Space.com, a NASA device known as the lunar retroreflector network (LRA) had also been attached to the top of the probe.

The LRA experiment, consisting of eight mirrors mounted in a domed aluminum frame, is intended to serve as a marker for other spacecraft on landing. It is smaller than a computer mouse and lightweight.

The researchers now think that the device could have survived the accident.

"Yes, we think the laser reflector network would have survived the crash, even though it may have separated from the main body of the spacecraft," said David Smith, chief investigator of the spacecraft. Lunar Orbiter (LOLA) laser altimeter aboard the NASA Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO). spaceship, said In outer space.

"Of course, we do not know the orientation of the table," he added. "It could be upside down, but it has a 120 degree receiving angle and we only need one of the 0.5 inch cubes for detection." Certainly did not help things. "

He added that the LOLA team would start planning observations to find the LRA soon.