''Beresheet'' ( he, בְּרֵאשִׁית, ''Bərēšīṯ'', "In the beginning";
Book of Genesis
The Book of Genesis (from Greek ; Hebrew: בְּרֵאשִׁית ''Bəreʾšīt'', "In hebeginning") is the first book of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament. Its Hebrew name is the same as its first word, ( "In the beginning") ...
) was a demonstrator of a small robotic lunar lander and lunar probe operated by
SpaceIL and
Israel Aerospace Industries
Israel Aerospace Industries (Hebrew: התעשייה האווירית לישראל ''ha-ta'asiya ha-avirit le-yisra'el'') or IAI (תע"א) is Israel's major aerospace and aviation manufacturer, producing aerial and astronautic systems for both mi ...
. Its aims included inspiring youth and promoting careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (
STEM
Stem or STEM may refer to:
Plant structures
* Plant stem, a plant's aboveground axis, made of vascular tissue, off which leaves and flowers hang
* Stipe (botany), a stalk to support some other structure
* Stipe (mycology), the stem of a mushro ...
), and landing its
magnetometer
A magnetometer is a device that measures magnetic field or magnetic dipole moment. Different types of magnetometers measure the direction, strength, or relative change of a magnetic field at a particular location. A compass is one such device, on ...
,
time capsule
A time capsule is a historic cache of goods or information, usually intended as a deliberate method of communication with future people, and to help future archaeologists, anthropologists, or historians. The preservation of holy relics date ...
, and
laser retroreflector on the
Moon
The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It is the fifth largest satellite in the Solar System and the largest and most massive relative to its parent planet, with a diameter about one-quarter that of Earth (comparable to the width ...
. The lander's gyroscopes failed on 11 April 2019 causing the main engine to shut off, which resulted in the lander crashing on the Moon. Its final resting position is 32.5956°N, 19.3496°E.
The lander was previously known as ''Sparrow'' and was officially renamed to ''Beresheet'' in December 2018. Its net mass was ; when fueled at launch, its mass was . It had been compared to a washing machine, as it stood at about the height of one at and was similar in width to large household appliances. It used seven ground stations for Earth–lander communication. Its mission control center was at
Israel Aerospace Industries
Israel Aerospace Industries (Hebrew: התעשייה האווירית לישראל ''ha-ta'asiya ha-avirit le-yisra'el'') or IAI (תע"א) is Israel's major aerospace and aviation manufacturer, producing aerial and astronautic systems for both mi ...
(IAI) in
Yehud,
Israel
Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
.
Planning and construction
''Beresheet'' was co-developed by
SpaceIL and Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) with support from
Israel Space Agency and
Morris Kahn, its major financier. It represented the first privately initiated Moon mission and was stimulated by the
Google Lunar X Prize
The Google Lunar XPRIZE (GLXP), sometimes referred to as Moon 2.0,
was a 2007–2018 inducement prize space competition organized by the X Prize Foundation, and sponsored by Google. The challenge called for privately funded teams to be th ...
.
SpaceIL and IAI constructed the vehicle and was supported by the Israel Space Agency. The time window for participation in the Google Lunar X Prize closed before the launch. After the mission, Lunar X Prize awarded a US$1 million award to SpaceIL to support a second mission.
The costs for the project, including launch, were about US$100 million. The government of Israel's commitment to the project was stated to be 10% in July 2018.
However, in 2019 just before the launch, SpaceIL told media that the overall budget was about US$90 million, and only about US$2 million of that came from the Israeli government.
Payload
The spacecraft carried a "
time capsule
A time capsule is a historic cache of goods or information, usually intended as a deliberate method of communication with future people, and to help future archaeologists, anthropologists, or historians. The preservation of holy relics date ...
" containing over 30 million pages of data, including a full copy of the English-language
Wikipedia
Wikipedia is a Multilingualism, multilingual free online encyclopedia written and maintained by a community of online volunteering, volunteers, known as Wikipedians, through open collaboration and using a wiki-based editing system. Wikipedia ...
, the
Wearable Rosetta disc, the
PanLex database, the
Torah
The Torah (; hbo, ''Tōrā'', "Instruction", "Teaching" or "Law") is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, namely the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. In that sense, Torah means the s ...
, children's drawings, a children's book inspired by the space launch, memoirs of a
Holocaust survivor
Holocaust survivors are people who survived the Holocaust, defined as the persecution and attempted annihilation of the Jews by Nazi Germany and its allies before and during World War II in Europe and North Africa. There is no universally acce ...
, Israel's national anthem ("
Hatikvah
Hatikvah ( he, הַתִּקְוָה, haTīqvā, ; ) is the national anthem of the State of Israel. Part of 19th-century Jewish poetry, the theme of the Romantic composition reflects the 2,000-year-old desire of the Jewish people to return t ...
"), the
Israeli flag
The flag of Israel ( he, דגל ישראל '; ar, علم إسرائيل ') was adopted on 28 October 1948, five months after the establishment of the State of Israel. It depicts a blue hexagram on a white background, between two horizontal blu ...
, and a copy of the
Israeli Declaration of Independence
The Israeli Declaration of Independence, formally the Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel ( he, הכרזה על הקמת מדינת ישראל), was proclaimed on 14 May 1948 ( 5 Iyar 5708) by David Ben-Gurion, the Executive ...
.
At the last minute, genetic samples and
tardigrade
Tardigrades (), known colloquially as water bears or moss piglets, are a phylum of eight-legged segmented micro-animals. They were first described by the German zoologist Johann August Ephraim Goeze in 1773, who called them Kleiner Wasserbä ...
s were added in epoxy resin between the digital layers.
Its scientific payload included a
magnetometer
A magnetometer is a device that measures magnetic field or magnetic dipole moment. Different types of magnetometers measure the direction, strength, or relative change of a magnetic field at a particular location. A compass is one such device, on ...
supplied by the Israeli
Weizmann Institute of Science
The Weizmann Institute of Science ( he, מכון ויצמן למדע ''Machon Vaitzman LeMada'') is a public research university in Rehovot, Israel, established in 1934, 14 years before the State of Israel. It differs from other Israeli unive ...
to measure the local
magnetic field
A magnetic field is a vector field that describes the magnetic influence on moving electric charges, electric currents, and magnetic materials. A moving charge in a magnetic field experiences a force perpendicular to its own velocity and to ...
, and a
laser retroreflector array supplied by
NASA's
Goddard Space Flight Center
The Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) is a major NASA space research laboratory located approximately northeast of Washington, D.C. in Greenbelt, Maryland, United States. Established on May 1, 1959 as NASA's first space flight center, GSFC empl ...
to enable precise measurements of the
Earth–Moon distance.
Propulsion
The spacecraft propulsion system was designed and built by Israel Aerospace Industries, based on
monomethylhydrazine (MMH) fuel and
mixed oxides of nitrogen (MON) oxidizer. It featured nine engines, the main engine was the
LEROS
Leros ( el, Λέρος) is a Greek island and municipality in the Dodecanese in the southern Aegean Sea. It lies (171 nautical miles) from Athens's port of Piraeus, from which it can be reached by an 9-hour ferry ride or by a 45-minute flight fr ...
2b
liquid-propellant, restartable
rocket engine
A rocket engine uses stored rocket propellants as the reaction mass for forming a high-speed propulsive jet of fluid, usually high-temperature gas. Rocket engines are reaction engines, producing thrust by ejecting mass rearward, in accorda ...
which was used to reach lunar orbit, deceleration of the spacecraft, and an attempted propulsive landing.
Launch
In October 2015, SpaceIL signed a contract for a launch from
Cape Canaveral
Cape Canaveral ( es, Cabo Cañaveral) is a cape in Brevard County, Florida, in the United States, near the center of the state's Atlantic coast. Officially Cape Kennedy from 1963 to 1973, it lies east of Merritt Island, separated from it by the B ...
in
Florida
Florida is a U.S. state, state located in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia (U.S. state), Geo ...
on a
SpaceX
Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) is an American spacecraft manufacturer, launcher, and a satellite communications corporation headquartered in Hawthorne, California. It was founded in 2002 by Elon Musk with the stated goal o ...
Falcon 9
Falcon 9 is a partially reusable medium lift launch vehicle that can carry cargo and crew into Earth orbit, produced by American aerospace company SpaceX.
The rocket has two stages. The first (booster) stage carries the second stage and pay ...
booster, via
Spaceflight Industries.
It was launched on 22 February 2019 at 01:45
UTC (20:45 local time on 21 February 2019) as a secondary payload,
[SpaceX Falcon 9 rideshare launch to send a commercial lander to the Moon in 2019](_blank)
Eric Ralph, Teslarati 12 September 2018 along with the telecom satellite
PSN-6. ''Beresheet'' was controlled by a command center in
Yehud, Israel.
From 24 February to 19 March 2019, the main engine was used four times to raise the orbit, putting its
apogee
An apsis (; ) is the farthest or nearest point in the orbit of a planetary body about its primary body. For example, the apsides of the Earth are called the aphelion and perihelion.
General description
There are two apsides in any el ...
close to the Moon's orbital distance. The spacecraft performed maneuvers so as to be successfully captured into an elliptical lunar orbit on 4 April 2019, and adjusted its flight pattern in a
circular orbit around the Moon. Once it was in the correct circular orbit, it was planned to decelerate for a soft landing on the lunar surface. This was planned for 11 April 2019.
Planned landing site
The planned landing site was in the north part of the
Mare Serenitatis
Mare Serenitatis (Latin ''serēnitātis'', the "Sea of Serenity") is a lunar mare located to the east of Mare Imbrium on the Moon. Its diameter is .
Geology
Mare Serenitatis is located within the Serenitatis basin, which is of the Nectarian e ...
,
and the landing zone was about in diameter.
Planned operations
''Beresheet'' was planned to operate for an estimated two days on the lunar surface,
as it had no thermal control and was expected to quickly overheat. Its main mission would have been to gather imagery and send it back to Earth. Additionally, the craft would have made magnetic measurements. It was also planned to reignite its main engine and perform a "hop" to another place in the Moon's surface, demonstrating relocation capability in its Moon exploration.
The retroreflector was a passive device requiring no electrical power and was expected to be functional for several decades.
NASA contribution
In addition to contributing the laser retroreflector to the mission, NASA planned to contribute space communications capabilities during the cruise phase and operations phase, even giving ''Beresheet'' time on the
Deep Space Network
The NASA Deep Space Network (DSN) is a worldwide network of American spacecraft communication ground segment facilities, located in the United States (California), Spain (Madrid), and Australia (Canberra), that supports NASA's interplanetary ...
. NASA also planned to survey ''Beresheet'' with its
Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter
The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) is a NASA robotic spacecraft currently orbiting the Moon in an eccentric polar mapping orbit. Data collected by LRO have been described as essential for planning NASA's future human and robotic missions t ...
(which it did after the crash-landing). In exchange, SpaceIL would have shared its magnetic measurements with NASA.
Crash-landing
On 11 April 2019, the lander
crash-landed on the lunar surface. An Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU2)
gyroscope
A gyroscope (from Ancient Greek γῦρος ''gŷros'', "round" and σκοπέω ''skopéō'', "to look") is a device used for measuring or maintaining orientation and angular velocity. It is a spinning wheel or disc in which the axis of rotat ...
failed during the braking procedure on approach to the landing site, and the ground control crew was unable to reset the individual component due to a sudden loss of communications with the control network. By the time communications were restored, the craft's main engine had already been inactive for an extended period. The engine was brought back online following a system-wide reset; however, the craft had already lost too much altitude to slow its descent sufficiently. The final telemetry reading indicated that at an altitude of the craft was still traveling over , resulting in a total loss on impact with the lunar surface. Prior to impact, the probe had been able to take two last photographs: a view of itself against the Moon, and a closer shot of the Moon's surface.
The lander's final resting position is 32.5956°N, 19.3496°E,
portrayed in the following
LROC
LRoc (born James Elbert Phillips) is an American in-house songwriter and producer at Jermaine Dupri's So So Def Recordings. He has co-written and co-produced singles like Janet Jackson's " Call on Me", Monica's " Everytime Tha Beat Drop", Mar ...
images:
* M1236487095L (before impact)
* M1098722768L (before impact - 2012-08-04 - 12:31:41, line 24245, sample 4031)
* M1101080642R (before impact - 2012-08-31 - 19:29:35, line 14398, sample 1424)
* M1310536929R (after impact)
Wreckage
NASA's
Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter
The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) is a NASA robotic spacecraft currently orbiting the Moon in an eccentric polar mapping orbit. Data collected by LRO have been described as essential for planning NASA's future human and robotic missions t ...
(LRO) overflew the area where ''Beresheet'' telemetry ended, and took photos of the surface. When those photos were compared against earlier photos of the same location, one set of new features was obvious. A faint lighter line leads to a lighter halo surrounding a dark crater. A lump is visible at the head of the crater opposite the line. The light halo may either be gas associated with the craft's wreckage or fine soil particles blown outward by the impact. A small NASA payload known as the Lunar Retroflector Array (LRA) is hoped to have survived the crash. Though it may have separated from the main wreckage, the Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter (LOLA) instrument on the LRO is pulsing laser images at the crash site in hopes of finding the LRA.
In August 2019, scientists reported that a capsule containing
tardigrade
Tardigrades (), known colloquially as water bears or moss piglets, are a phylum of eight-legged segmented micro-animals. They were first described by the German zoologist Johann August Ephraim Goeze in 1773, who called them Kleiner Wasserbä ...
micro-animals in their natural
cryptobiotic state may have survived the crash and lived on the Moon for a while. On previous space missions, tardigrades were exposed to the open vacuum of space and some were able to live for a period of time.
There is no real danger they will spread across the Moon,
but this "Tardigrade affair" attracted the criticism of professionals who pointed out the lacking
planetary protection
Planetary protection is a guiding principle in the design of an interplanetary mission, aiming to prevent biological contamination of both the target celestial body and the Earth in the case of sample-return missions. Planetary protection reflec ...
measures, and lacking international regulation to enforce such measures.
''Beresheet 2''
Originally Beresheet was planned to be a one-time-only mission.
However, on 13 April 2019, Morris Kahn announced that a new mission, named ''
Beresheet 2'' would attempt a second time to land on the Moon. On 25 November 2019, it was announced that ''Beresheet 2'' would attempt to send one lander to the Moon and another to Mars.
On 9 December 2020, SpaceIL announced that the ''Beresheet 2'' Moon mission will launch in 2024, and will consist of an orbiter and two landers. It will have a budget of US$100 million, similar to that of ''Beresheet 1'', and will include more international collaboration, with the
United Arab Emirates
The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia ( The Middle East). It is located at t ...
as one of seven countries expressing interest.
Minor planet
The minor planet
27050 Beresheet is named after the spacecraft.
Intellectual property
IAI owns the intellectual property of the ''Beresheet'' design.
[Firefly to partner with IAI on lunar lander](_blank)
Jeff Foust, ''SpaceNews'' 9 July 2019 On 9 June 2019, it was announced that IAI signed an agreement with the American company
Firefly Aerospace to build a lunar lander based on ''Beresheet''.
Firefly Aerospace is one of several "main contractors" for NASA's
Commercial Lunar Payload Services
Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) is a NASA program to contract transportation services able to send small robotic landers and rovers to the Moon's south polar region mostly with the goals of scouting for lunar resources, testing in s ...
(CLPS), and they plan to propose a lunar lander based on ''Beresheet'' that will be called ''Genesis''.
[Israel’s failed lunar lander will live on in the design of Firefly Aerospace's new Moon spacecraft](_blank)
Loren Grush, ''The Verge'' 9 July 2019 ''Genesis'' would be launched on another vehicle Firefly plans to build, a rocket called Beta,
or a
Falcon 9
Falcon 9 is a partially reusable medium lift launch vehicle that can carry cargo and crew into Earth orbit, produced by American aerospace company SpaceX.
The rocket has two stages. The first (booster) stage carries the second stage and pay ...
launch vehicle
Despite being developed by Firefly, IAI will support the ''Blue Ghost'' lunar lander development effort as per their previous agreement on ''Genesis''.
On 4 February 2021, NASA has awarded a CLPS contract to Firefly Aerospace, of
Cedar Park, Texas
Cedar Park is a city and a major suburb of Austin in the state of Texas, approximately to the north-west of the center of Austin. According to the 2020 U.S. Census, the city's population was 77,595.
History
Before the arrival of European settl ...
, approximately US$93.3 million to deliver a suite of 10 science investigations and technology demonstrations to the Moon in 2023.
See also
*
Commercial use of space
Commercial use of space is the provision of goods or services of commercial value by using equipment sent into Earth orbit or outer space. This phenomenon – aka Space Economy (or New Space Economy) – is accelerating cross-sector innovati ...
*
List of artificial objects on the Moon
This is a partial list of artificial materials left on the Moon, many during the missions of the Apollo program. The table below does not include lesser Apollo mission artificial objects, such as a hammer and other tools, retroreflectors, Apollo ...
*
References
External links
*
From Plutarch to Beresheet: a Short History of Lunar ExplorationNational Geographic - First privately funded moon lander crash-lands
{{2019 in space
Missions to the Moon
Hopping spacecraft
Landers (spacecraft)
Space program of Israel
Space probes launched in 2019
SpaceX commercial payloads
Spacecraft that impacted the Moon
Space probes decommissioned in 2019
2019 on the Moon