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An unpretentious spaceship called Beresheet fired for the moon on April 11. He could not really stick the landingbut he has a lot of company in his disappointing destiny.
Beresheet, an Israeli mission launched by a partnership between SpaceIL, a non-profit corporation, and the Israeli Aerospace Industries, a government-owned aerospace company, returned its latest photo during its raid on lunar surface. A few minutes later, the control of the mission lost contact with the spacecraft, finally concluding that the probe had crashed instead of slowing down fast enough to allow the smooth landing planned.
But even under the control of the mission, the observers were philosophers as to the difficult end of the mission. "If at first you do not succeed, you still try," said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who witnessed Beresheet's landing attempt from SpaceIL's control center in Yehud, Israel, during the live broadcast of the maneuver.
Related: The Beresheet spacecraft of Israel crushes on the moon during an attempt to land
In Hebrew, Netanyahu has also expressed interest in building a second lander and trying again to attempt the tricky turn of landing on another planetary body, projecting a two or three year schedule.
On Saturday, April 13, Morris Kahn, the billionaire business man, pilanthropist and president of SpaceIL, confirmed that the SpaceIL team was meeting this weekend to begin planning the Beresheet 2.0 mission.
"We will actually build a new halalit – a new spaceship, "said Kahn in a video statement posted on Twitter by SpaceIL.We will install it on the moon and carry out the mission."
The team behind Beresheet always knew that the design of the mission included risks. In order to keep the spacecraft small enough to fit into another spacecraft equipped with a Falcon 9 rocket, the technical team had to design this craft. without backup systems. Nevertheless, before its ultimate failure, the spacecraft resisted multiple problems in orbit and at the start of its landing.
The Beresheet landing attempt also caused a sensation beyond Israel. The lander had taken a scientific instrument provided by NASA, a retroreflector instrument scientists would have used precise measurements of the distance between the Earth and the Moon.
The Beresheet probe captured this "selfie" during his failed landing maneuver on April 11, 2019.
(Image: © SpaceIL / IAI)
And although this instrument no longer exists, the NASA leader also expressed hope for the future of Israeli spaceflight. "Each attempt to reach new milestones provides us with opportunities to learn, adjust and progress," said NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine. written in a statement. "I have no doubt that Israel and SpaceIL will continue to explore, and I look forward to celebrating their future achievements."
This is not a surprising answer. NASA knows as well as anyone how much a space flight can be difficult. The surface of the moon is littered with dozens of stale spaceshipsand, although many of them ended their missions smoothly, many made unplanned landings, including NASA's Surveyor 2 and 4 missions in the 1960s. More recently, all lunar crashes in the Agency have been determinedbut landing on the surface of another world is never a thing to do.
"The space is difficult, but it 's worth taking risks," wrote Twitter, after the landing attempt, Thomas Zurbuchen, deputy administrator of NASA' s Science Mission Directorate. "If we succeed each time, there will be no reward, we look forward to exploring the moon together in the future." He also said that he would visit Israel later this year to talk about these opportunities.
The space is difficult, but it's worth it. If we succeed each time, there would be no reward. It is when we keep trying that we inspire others and reach greatness. Thank you for inspiring us @TeamSpaceIL. We look forward to future opportunities to explore the Moon together. pic.twitter.com/yZ35IJKOYCApril 11, 2019
Zurbuchen was in the place of the anxious mission staff who attended the attempt of landing. More recently, he assumed control of the mission at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California when the Mars Mars InSight landed in a so-called maneuver.6 minutes of terror. "
"I want to thank @TeamSpaceIL for organizing this landing with millions of viewers around the world, despite the knowledge of the risks," Zurbuchen wrote on Twitter. "We are doing the same because we believe in the value of global exploration and inspiration and we encourage all international and commercial explorers to do the same!"
Live Science Editor Rafi Letzter contributed to this report.
Email Meghan Bartels to [email protected] or follow her @meghanbartels. follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.
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