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Beresheet
Beresheet (Hebrew: בְּרֵאשִׁית, Bərēšīṯ, "In the beginning"; Book of Genesis) was a demonstrator of a small robotic lunar lander and lunar probe operated by SpaceIL and Israel Aerospace Industries. Its aims included inspiring youth and promoting careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), and landing its magnetometer, time capsule, and laser retroreflector on the Moon. 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 150 kg (330 lb); when fueled at launch, its mass was 585 kg (1,290 lb). It had been compared to a washing machine, as it stood at about the height of one at 1.5 m (4 ft 11 in) 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 (IAI) in Yehud, Israel.
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. 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.
The spacecraft carried a "time capsule" containing over 30 million pages of data, including a full copy of the English-language Wikipedia, the Wearable Rosetta disc, the PanLex database, the Torah, children's drawings, a children's book inspired by the space launch, memoirs of a Holocaust survivor, Israel's national anthem ("Hatikvah"), the Israeli flag, and a copy of the Israeli Declaration of Independence. At the last minute, genetic samples and tardigrades were added in epoxy resin between the digital layers.
Its scientific payload included a magnetometer supplied by the Israeli Weizmann Institute of Science to measure the local magnetic field, and a laser retroreflector array supplied by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center to enable precise measurements of the Earth–Moon distance.
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 2b liquid-propellant, restartable rocket engine which was used to reach lunar orbit, deceleration of the spacecraft, and an attempted propulsive landing.
In October 2015, SpaceIL signed a contract for a launch from Cape Canaveral in Florida on a SpaceX Falcon 9 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, along with the telecom satellite PSN-6. Beresheet was controlled by a command center in Yehud, Israel.
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Beresheet AI simulator
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Beresheet
Beresheet (Hebrew: בְּרֵאשִׁית, Bərēšīṯ, "In the beginning"; Book of Genesis) was a demonstrator of a small robotic lunar lander and lunar probe operated by SpaceIL and Israel Aerospace Industries. Its aims included inspiring youth and promoting careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), and landing its magnetometer, time capsule, and laser retroreflector on the Moon. 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 150 kg (330 lb); when fueled at launch, its mass was 585 kg (1,290 lb). It had been compared to a washing machine, as it stood at about the height of one at 1.5 m (4 ft 11 in) 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 (IAI) in Yehud, Israel.
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. 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.
The spacecraft carried a "time capsule" containing over 30 million pages of data, including a full copy of the English-language Wikipedia, the Wearable Rosetta disc, the PanLex database, the Torah, children's drawings, a children's book inspired by the space launch, memoirs of a Holocaust survivor, Israel's national anthem ("Hatikvah"), the Israeli flag, and a copy of the Israeli Declaration of Independence. At the last minute, genetic samples and tardigrades were added in epoxy resin between the digital layers.
Its scientific payload included a magnetometer supplied by the Israeli Weizmann Institute of Science to measure the local magnetic field, and a laser retroreflector array supplied by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center to enable precise measurements of the Earth–Moon distance.
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 2b liquid-propellant, restartable rocket engine which was used to reach lunar orbit, deceleration of the spacecraft, and an attempted propulsive landing.
In October 2015, SpaceIL signed a contract for a launch from Cape Canaveral in Florida on a SpaceX Falcon 9 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, along with the telecom satellite PSN-6. Beresheet was controlled by a command center in Yehud, Israel.