Scientific American is the essential guide to the most awe-inspiring advances in science and technology, explaining how they change our understanding of the world and shape our lives. Private organization SpaceIL’s Beresheet lander crashes down on the moon following engine and communications problems
Beresheet, a modest Israeli spacecraft with the audacious aim of making a soft landing on the moon, came close but ultimately failed in its goal on Thursday. The probe crashed on the lunar surface after engine and communication troubles arose shortly before its planned touchdown. The vehicle, engineered by an Israeli nonprofit organization called SpaceIL, would have been the first private spacecraft to make a lunar landing—and would have made Israel only the fourth country to do so, after the U. S., the former Soviet Union and China.
“Well, we didn’t make it, but we definitely tried,” said SpaceIL president Morris Kahn during a live broadcast of the landing attempt. “I think the achievement of getting to where we got is really tremendous. I think we can be proud.”
The $100 million Beresheet spacecraft was not an Israeli government project but was instead funded, built and operated through SpaceIL’s efforts. It was the first of several privately funded lunar landing attempts slated for the next few years—part of a potential new international “moon rush,” as both global powers and private companies race back to Earth’s nearest neighbor.
“I think everybody kind of realizes that this is a long shot, that this is a very challenging thing to go try to do,” said Bruce Pittman, a contractor at NASA and senior vice president and senior operations officer for the National Space Society, before the landing attempt. “These other teams are so far down the road, with so much momentum—they will all have their shot. They don’t all have to work. I’m just hoping that at least one of the near-term attempts, of the five to six that should happen over next 12 to 18 months, will be successful.”
Beresheet’s Beginning
“Beresheet is a biblical word, the Hebrew word for the book of Genesis,” said SpaceIL co-founder Yonatan Winetraub in an earlier interview. “It also means ‘in the beginning.’ It was proposed by the public and selected by national [Israeli] vote. The naming captures the essence of the mission: a grassroots, bottom-up effort that is only the beginning.
