Page 7 - TORCH Magazine #13 - April 2019

Sadly something had gone wrong. On the live feed from the SpaceIL control centre, the team had looks of worry on their faces. Then the announcement came through the loudspeaker: “We have lost signal with the spacecraft”. They regained signal moments later, but the main engine had lost power.
An internal measurement unit aboard the spacecraft had failed, relaying a false signal to the engine and causing it to shut down.
By the time the team on the ground could override the system and turn the engine back on, the craft was moving too fast to land safely.
This is the final image sent from the spacecraft and was taken just 13 miles (22km) above the moon’s surface. Less than two minutes later, travelling at 300 miles- per-hour, Beresheet touched the moon - and smashed into smithereens.
Like the millions of meteorites that have struck the surface of the moon, Israel’s spacecraft became another crater, albeit
a very small one, on the lunar surface.
All that remained of Beresheet were the hundreds of fragments of its broken body that now rest on the moon’s so-called “Sea of Tranquillity”, the planned landing site of Israel’s first lunar spacecraft.
Alex Friedman, operation control director of SpaceIL said, “We are on the
moon, but not in the way that we wanted to be”.
Israel may have failed in its mission, but it has a lot to be proud of. It is the smallest country to launch a lunar mission and was the seventh country to orbit the moon. Beresheet was the smallest spacecraft to make the flight, and was the cheapest by a long way. In fact, the project was privately funded, with billionaire Morris Kahn donating £30 million of his own money
to the project. If Israel had successfully landed, they would have become the fourth country to do so, behind the Soviet Union, China and the USA. Three superpowers that spent tens-of-billions on their space programmes using government funds.
“Well, we didn’t make it, but we definitely tried,” Kahn said, showing a genuine appreciation for the team at SpaceIL in the aftermath of the mission. He later shared his thoughts, referring to a plaque that was on the spacecraft, saying “The flag of Israel and the slogan ‘small country big dreams’ is on the moon. The slogan ‘Am Yisrael Chai’ [’the people of Israel lives’] is on the moon. I think we’ve done a lot. I’m happy.”
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who was present at mission control, encouraged the team saying, “If at first you don’t succeed, you try again.”
And try again they will. Just five days later, Israel announced Beresheet 2.0.
The Israeli public showed huge enthusiasm and support during Israel’s first lunar mission. The event was broadcast throughout Israel with tens-of-thousands
of people taking part in “landing parties”
and public gatherings around the country as their tiny nation attempted to fulfil a massive dream.
Building on that shared experience, Israel’s next attempt will be a national project with funds donated by the public. Prime Minister Netanyahu also promised the government’s help.
Netanyahu said, “From my point-of- view, the eagle has landed. The State of Israel has taken off. Next time it will be better. An Israeli spacecraft will land on the moon - whole.”
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