{"id":13256,"date":"2019-04-04T00:19:08","date_gmt":"2019-04-03T16:19:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/israels-beresheet-lander-heads-for-make-or-break-lunar-capture-maneuver\/"},"modified":"2019-04-04T00:19:08","modified_gmt":"2019-04-03T16:19:08","slug":"israels-beresheet-lander-heads-for-make-or-break-lunar-capture-maneuver","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/israels-beresheet-lander-heads-for-make-or-break-lunar-capture-maneuver\/","title":{"rendered":"Israel\u2019s Beresheet lander heads for make-or-break lunar capture maneuver"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Artist\u2019s illustration of the Beresheet lander in orbit round the moon. Credit: SpaceIL<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

An Israeli spacecraft has one shot Thursday to swing into orbit around the moon with a six-minute engine firing, a critical maneuver that will set up for the privately-funded probe\u2019s historic landing attempt April 11.<\/p>\n

The hydrazine-fueled main engine mounted to the base of the Israeli Beresheet lunar lander is set to ignite around 1415 GMT (10:15 a.m. EDT). The six-minute firing will reduce Beresheet\u2019s velocity relative to the moon by more than 600 mph (about 1,000 kilometers per hour), enough for lunar gravity to capture the spacecraft in an elongated orbit.<\/p>\n

If the robotic spacecraft misfires Thursday, it will continue past the moon and escape Earth\u2019s gravitational grasp to head deeper into the solar system, bringing the mission to an end.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a simple maneuver, but it\u2019s very important and very critical,\u201d said Ido Anteby, the CEO of SpaceIL, the non-profit organization that led the development of the Beresheet mission.<\/p>\n

Beresheet aims to become the first privately-funded spacecraft to orbit another planetary body after Thursday\u2019s lunar capture maneuver. With a successful touchdown April 11, the craft will become the first private probe to land on the moon.<\/p>\n

The spacecraft will target a landing in the Mare Serenitatis, or Sea of Serenity, region on the upper right part of the moon as viewed from Earth.<\/p>\n

Beresheet has been circling the Earth since launching Feb. 21 from Cape Canaveral aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. The lander rode into space as a piggyback payload on the Falcon 9, joining an Indonesian communications satellite and a U.S. Air Force space surveillance satellite on the same rocket.<\/p>\n

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A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifted off Feb. 21 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, with the Israeli Beresheet lunar lander, Indonesia\u2019s Nusantara Satu communications satellite, and the U.S. Air Force\u2019s S5 space surveillance spacecraft. Credit: SpaceX<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Falcon 9\u2019s upper stage released Beresheet in an elliptical orbit ranging as high as 43,000 miles (69,000 kilometers) in altitude. After separation, the spacecraft deployed its four landing legs. With the lander gear extended, Beresheet has a diameter of around 7.5 feet (2.3 meters) and measures 4.9 feet (1.5 meters) tall.<\/p>\n

A series of main engine burns nudged Beresheet into longer orbits that took the spacecraft farther from Earth.<\/p>\n

\u201cSince we were launched about five weeks ago, we\u2019ve been circling the Earth in ever-growing orbits, and our current orbit brings us to about 420,000 kilometers (261,000 miles) above Earth, just above the moon\u2019s trajectory. We\u2019ve passed our final perigee, that\u2019s the closest point of approach to Earth, a couple of days ago, successfully,\u201d said Opher Doron, general manager of Israel Aerospace Industries\u2019 space division, which built the Beresheet spacecraft and operates the lander\u2019s control center.<\/p>\n

Beresheet has traveled more than 3.4 million miles \u2014 about 5.5 million kilometers \u2014 since departing Cape Canaveral.<\/p>\n

Ground controllers identified an issue with the spacecraft\u2019s star tracker cameras shortly after launch. The cameras are used to locate the positions of stars in the sky, helping determine Beresheet\u2019s orientation in space. SpaceIL says the star trackers are too sensitive to blinding by bright sunlight.<\/p>\n

Beresheet also missed one of its orbit-raising engine burns in late February due to a computer reset, but engineers kept mission on schedule for its arrival at the moon.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve made some corrections along the way to our course, and we are en route to intercepting the moon \u2026 Thursday afternoon (Israeli time), and there we will be performing a complex maneuver to get out of Earth\u2019s orbit into the moon\u2019s orbit,\u201d Doron said Tuesday. \u201cSo we\u2019ll be captured by the moon by our maneuver, and after that, we are on our way to landing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Beresheet must accomplish at least 70 percent of the impulse planned for Thursday\u2019s lunar capture burn in order to be snared into orbit around the moon, according to Yoav Landsman, Beresheet\u2019s deputy mission director at SpaceIL.<\/p>\n