Israel’s Beresheet moon lander has crashed after its engine malfunctioned during its descent to the lunar surface. Controllers failed to reset the craft’s system to restart the engine in time. Beresheet, built by Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) for non-profit organization SpaceIL, was attempting a landing in the Mare Serenitatis region of the moon at about 3:25 p.m. Eastern after spending the past week in orbit. The Israeli space agency said that a technical malfunction caused the spacecraft to lose contact with ground controllers and it was unable to reenter Earth’s atmosphere. IAI space division general manager Opher Doron said success would have made Israel the seventh country to launch a rocket that orbited the moon and the fourth to land. The X Prize Foundation, which ran a competition for privately funded moon landings, agreed to pay the $1m prize for success to SpaceIL for coming close.
Israel’s Beresheet moon lander has crashed after its engine malfunctioned during its descent to the lunar surface. Controllers failed to reset the craft’s system to restart the engine in time. The Israeli space agency said that a technical malfunction caused the spacecraft to lose contact with ground controllers and it was unable to reenter Earth’s atmosphere. IAI space division general manager Opher Doron said success would have made Israel the seventh country to launch a rocket that orbited the moon and the fourth to land. The X Prize Foundation, which ran a competition for privately funded moon landings, agreed to pay the $1m prize for success to SpaceIL for coming close.