The Israeli team behind the Beresheet spacecraft’s failed moon landing has explained that a “technical glitch” shut down one of the craft’s engines, which sent it flying to its doom at 500kph.
The craft, launched by Israeli nonprofit space venture SpaceIL and defense contractor Israel Aerospace Industries, crashed into the surface of the moon on Thursday, after failing to adequately slow its descent.
The SpaceIL team explained on Friday that the first technical issue occurred 14km above the moon’s surface. By the time the team lost contact with the craft at 150 meters, it was moving at 500kph, “making a collision inevitable.”
“Our engineers think that a technical glitch in one of the components caused the main engine to shut down - making it impossible to slow the spacecraft’s descent,” SpaceIL explained. “By the time the engine was restarted its velocity was too high to land properly.”
Also on rt.com Israel fails attempted Moon landing as comm with spacecraft lostDETAILS TO FOLLOW
Source : RT - Daily news
Israeli team explains why Beresheet spacecraft CRASHED into the moon
Israeli team explains why Beresheet spacecraft CRASHED into the moon
