An Israeli lander is now orbiting the Moon ahead of a lunar landing next week
A tiny robotic spacecraft from Israel just inserted itself into orbit around the Moon in a critical maneuver that sets the vehicle up for a landing on the lunar surface next week. If the touchdown is successful, the spacecraft will become the first private vehicle to land on the Moon.
The lander now speeding around the Moon is Beresheet, which is built and operated by Israeli nonprofit SpaceIL. On February 21st, Beresheet launched to space on top of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, which deployed the lander in a wide orbit around Earth. Since then, the spacecraft has been periodically igniting its engine and stretching its orbital path around the planet, sending itself toward the Moon. So far, the lander has traveled more than 3.4 million miles through space and completed around 12 orbits. It’s also taken a few snapshots of Earth and itself along the way.
Just after 10:15AM ET this morning, Beresheet ignited its main engine again in order to slow the vehicle down so that it could be captured by the Moon’s gravity. Now, the lander is in an elliptical orbit around the Moon, a path that takes the spacecraft between 310 and 6,213 miles above the lunar surface. Beresheet won’t linger in this orbit for long, though. Over the next week, the lander will ignite its engine a few times to make its orbit around the Moon more circular, descending to 124 miles above the lunar surface. On April 11th, Beresheet will ignite its engine again to take itself out of the Moon’s orbit and land.
"Today’s maneuver was a critical one for SpaceIL"
Today’s maneuver was a critical one for SpaceIL. If the lander hadn’t slowed down enough, it might have missed the Moon’s orbit altogether, and it may have even left the Earth-Moon system. That would have effectively ended the mission, as there was no way to get the vehicle back on track.
A successful landing next week will mark a major first for space travel because of the way Beresheet was developed. Even now, the fact that it’s orbiting the Moon is a major first for spaceflight history. Up until now, only three superpowers — the US, Russia, and China — have successfully landed vehicles intact on the Moon. Beresheet was created with mostly private funding. The team had an overall budget of just $90 million, but only $2 million of that came from the Israeli government; the rest came from private investors......
The lander now speeding around the Moon is Beresheet, which is built and operated by Israeli nonprofit SpaceIL. On February 21st, Beresheet launched to space on top of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, which deployed the lander in a wide orbit around Earth. Since then, the spacecraft has been periodically igniting its engine and stretching its orbital path around the planet, sending itself toward the Moon. So far, the lander has traveled more than 3.4 million miles through space and completed around 12 orbits. It’s also taken a few snapshots of Earth and itself along the way.
Just after 10:15AM ET this morning, Beresheet ignited its main engine again in order to slow the vehicle down so that it could be captured by the Moon’s gravity. Now, the lander is in an elliptical orbit around the Moon, a path that takes the spacecraft between 310 and 6,213 miles above the lunar surface. Beresheet won’t linger in this orbit for long, though. Over the next week, the lander will ignite its engine a few times to make its orbit around the Moon more circular, descending to 124 miles above the lunar surface. On April 11th, Beresheet will ignite its engine again to take itself out of the Moon’s orbit and land.
"Today’s maneuver was a critical one for SpaceIL"
Today’s maneuver was a critical one for SpaceIL. If the lander hadn’t slowed down enough, it might have missed the Moon’s orbit altogether, and it may have even left the Earth-Moon system. That would have effectively ended the mission, as there was no way to get the vehicle back on track.
A successful landing next week will mark a major first for space travel because of the way Beresheet was developed. Even now, the fact that it’s orbiting the Moon is a major first for spaceflight history. Up until now, only three superpowers — the US, Russia, and China — have successfully landed vehicles intact on the Moon. Beresheet was created with mostly private funding. The team had an overall budget of just $90 million, but only $2 million of that came from the Israeli government; the rest came from private investors......
Comment