Israeli lander lost during descent to moon, after weeks-long space odyssey

(SpaceIL Photo / Twitter)

Team SpaceIL’s Beresheet lunar failed to land on the surface of the moon on Thursday, preventing it from becoming the first Israeli spacecraft and the first privately funded probe to reach the surface of a celestial body beyond Earth.

Communication was lost as the SpaceIL team appeared to have trouble landing the spacecraft due to an apparent engine malfunction. It came at the end of a long, looping journey, a month and a half after the dishwasher-sized lander was sent into space by a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with a pre-launch logistical assist from Seattle-based Spaceflight.

Beresheet, which takes its name from the Hebrew phrase for “In the Beginning,” was funded with nearly $100 million in private money, led by Israeli billionaire Morris Kahn’s $40 million contribution. Las Vegas casino magnate Sheldon Adelson provided another $24 million for the effort.

Don’t stop believing! We came close but unfortunately didn’t succeed with the landing process. More updates to follow.#SpaceIL #Beresheet pic.twitter.com/QnLAwEdKRv

— Israel To The Moon (@TeamSpaceIL) April 11, 2019

MISSION FAILED: Israel’s Beresheet spacecraft was unable to land on the moon, ending SpaceIL’s bid to be the first private organization to accomplish the feat pic.twitter.com/v1XNU8r3Ih

— TicToc by Bloomberg (@tictoc) April 11, 2019

The nonprofit SpaceIL team was founded in 2011 to go after the top award in the $30 million Google Lunar X Prize competition. The challenge was created to encourage private-sector lunar exploration, but the deadline came and went last year before any team could mount a moonshot.

Nevertheless, SpaceIL’s team of about 50 engineers and entrepreneurs persisted. In league with state-owned Israel Aerospace Industries, SpaceIL worked with SpaceX and Spaceflight to arrange February’s launch on the Falcon 9 as a secondary payload.

Beresheet’s rocket engine executed a series of maneuvers to stretch out its elliptical orbit around Earth, and last week the spacecraft made the transition from Earth orbit to lunar orbit. That set the stage for today’s final descent.

Peter Diamandis, co-founder and executive chairman of XPRIZE, was at Mission Control in Yahud, Israel, for the landing. In an email sent before touchdown, Diamandis said the mission “will no doubt chart the path towards a new generation of low-cost scientific lunar landers.” Israel Aerospace Industries already has forged a partnership with Germany’s OHB System AG to build future lunar landers modeled after Beresheet.

Despite the failed landing, XPRIZE gave a $1 million “Moonshot Award” to SpaceIL in recognition of the team’s achievement.

XPRIZE to award $1 Million Moonshot Award to SpaceIL team for them to continue their work and pursue Beresheet 2.0. Space is hard!!! ⁦@xprize⁩ ⁦@TeamSpaceIL⁩ pic.twitter.com/J4Zo5eaYMT

— Peter Diamandis (@PeterDiamandis) April 11, 2019

The lander carried a high-resolution video camera system, a magnetometer to map the moon’s magnetic field and a mirror-like retroreflector that the laser altimeter on NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter can use to gauge Beresheet’s exact position on the surface. Another payload is a CD-sized “time capsule” that contains digitized files of children’s drawings, photographs and information about Israeli culture.

An Israeli flag was emblazoned on the spacecraft, befitting a probe that’s as much about Israeli pride as it is about lunar science or commercial space exploration. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, fresh from this week’s apparent victory in parliamentary elections, tweeted good-luck wishes before the landing:

Good luck, #Beresheet!