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An Israeli lander is now orbiting the Moon

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  • An Israeli lander is now orbiting the Moon

    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 first to state his case seems right until another comes and cross-examines him.

  • #2
    They are hunting the Nazis on the moon aren't they?

    Comment


    • #3
      Originally posted by Sparko View Post
      They are hunting the Nazis on the moon aren't they?


      I'm always still in trouble again

      "You're by far the worst poster on TWeb" and "TWeb's biggest liar" --starlight (the guy who says Stalin was a right-winger)
      "Overall I would rate the withdrawal from Afghanistan as by far the best thing Biden's done" --Starlight
      "Of course, human life begins at fertilization that’s not the argument." --Tassman

      Comment


      • #4
        Originally posted by rogue06 View Post
        [ATTACH=CONFIG]36078[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=CONFIG]36080[/ATTACH]

        Iron Sky

        Comment


        • #5
          Originally posted by Sparko View Post
          Iron Sky
          The sequel Iron Sky: The Coming Race was released earlier this year

          I'm always still in trouble again

          "You're by far the worst poster on TWeb" and "TWeb's biggest liar" --starlight (the guy who says Stalin was a right-winger)
          "Overall I would rate the withdrawal from Afghanistan as by far the best thing Biden's done" --Starlight
          "Of course, human life begins at fertilization that’s not the argument." --Tassman

          Comment


          • #6
            Originally posted by rogue06 View Post
            The sequel Iron Sky: The Coming Race was released earlier this year

            Comment


            • #7
              Failure

              Israel's Beresheet spacecraft fails to land safely on the moon

              Disappointment set in at the SpaceIL mission center as it became evident that while Beresheet did make it to the moon and won't be capable to carry out it's final mission.

              As the spacecraft approached the moon, SpaceIL lost contact with Beresheet several times. The scientists kept hope as the connection was restored, but just minutes before the spacecraft was supposed to touch down, contact was lost once again and it crashed on the moon.

              Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who was at hand to watch the landing, said that Israel will continue to try landing on the moon. Minutes later Netanyahu took to the microphone again to promise "Israel will land on the moon!"
              The first to state his case seems right until another comes and cross-examines him.

              Comment


              • #8
                Originally posted by Cow Poke View Post
                Failure

                Israel's Beresheet spacecraft fails to land safely on the moon

                Disappointment set in at the SpaceIL mission center as it became evident that while Beresheet did make it to the moon and won't be capable to carry out it's final mission.

                As the spacecraft approached the moon, SpaceIL lost contact with Beresheet several times. The scientists kept hope as the connection was restored, but just minutes before the spacecraft was supposed to touch down, contact was lost once again and it crashed on the moon.

                Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who was at hand to watch the landing, said that Israel will continue to try landing on the moon. Minutes later Netanyahu took to the microphone again to promise "Israel will land on the moon!"
                It really makes what we accomplished back in the 60s with virtually none of the massive computing technology we have now look all the more awesome.

                I'm always still in trouble again

                "You're by far the worst poster on TWeb" and "TWeb's biggest liar" --starlight (the guy who says Stalin was a right-winger)
                "Overall I would rate the withdrawal from Afghanistan as by far the best thing Biden's done" --Starlight
                "Of course, human life begins at fertilization that’s not the argument." --Tassman

                Comment


                • #9
                  Originally posted by rogue06 View Post
                  It really makes what we accomplished back in the 60s with virtually none of the massive computing technology we have now look all the more awesome.
                  You're one of those nuts who believe we actually went there?
                  The first to state his case seems right until another comes and cross-examines him.

                  Comment

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