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NASA's piggyback experience could have survived April 11 Israel's Beresheet Moon lander crash, say the experts ..
The payload of NASA, known as Lunar network of retroreflectors (LRA), is a technological demonstration consisting of eight mirrors consisting of quartz cube corners embedded in a domed aluminum frame. These mirrors are intended to serve as landmarks for other spacecraft, which can be used to orient them during precision landings.
The entire instrument is smaller than a computer mouse and lightweight. But since it is hard, radiation-hardened and designed to last a long time, the LRA may not have been destroyed by Beresheet's forced landing.
Related: The first Lander Beresheet of Israel in pictures
"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 of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, principal investigator of the LOLA instrument (Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter). From NASA Moon recognition orbiter (LRO) spaceship.
"Of course, we do not know the direction of the network," said Smith, also a researcher emeritus at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in the Greenbelt of Maryland, inside the US. outer space. "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. "
The LOLA team will soon start planning LRA hunting sightings, he added.
Demonstration of NASA LRA technology after installation on Beresheet. The row is mounted on the top of the space shuttle – visible here at the bottom left, around 7 o'clock.
(Image: © SpaceIL / Courtesy Xiaoli Sun / GSFC)
Detection attempts
The laser beams generated by LOLA touched the lunar surface and bounced off the instrument. For each beam returned, LOLA measures its flight time or its autonomy.
And if LOLA is able to bring out the light from the LRA reflector, the team must be informed.
NASA is interested in the presence of many retroreflectors in the moon in the future. These would serve as permanent "fiduciary marks" on the moonThis means that future ships could use them as reference points for precision landings.
In addition, LRO is attempting to image Beresheet's crash site with its Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter camera system, or LROC, Smith said.
Chain of events
Preliminary data provided by the engineering teams of the SpaceIL non-profit group and Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), which together Mission of Beresheet, suggest that a technical problem affecting one of the components of the LG triggered the chain of events of April 11, which resulted in malfunction of the main engine of the probe.
Without the main engine running properly, it was impossible to stop the Beresheet speed. The lunar lander 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, said members of the mission team.
According to SpaceIL and IAI, the information gathered to date shows that the first technical problem it's produced 14 km above the moon. At 492 feet (150 meters) from the lunar ground, the connection with the spacecraft was completely lost. At that time, Beresheet was moving vertically at 500 km / h (310 mph), inevitably heading towards the lunar surface.
The Beresheet spacecraft, whose name means "Genesis" or "Originally" in Hebrew, was launched on February 21st.
Meanwhile, the lunar dream of Israel is not dead! SpaceIL President Morris Kahn announced over the weekend that the group was planning to build and launch a lunar lander for follow-up: Beresheet 2.0.
Leonard David has written the forthcoming book "Moon Rush: The New Race in Space", which will be published by National Geographic in May 2019. Longtime writer for Space.com, David discusses the industry space for more than five decades. Follow us on twitter @Spacedotcom or Facebook.
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