Wednesday, March 20, 2019

Thruster Firing Puts Beresheet Lunar Lander on Course for the Moon


Beresheet moon lander mission timeline and trajectory. Credit: Space IL
Ken Kremer -- SpaceUpClose.com & RocketSTEM -- 19 March 2019

 CAPE CANAVERAL, FL –  Isreal’s first moon mission the privately funded ‘Beresheet’ lunar lander is on course for Destination Moon and capture into lunar orbit following a successful one minute long thruster firing of the main engine this morning, Tuesday, March 19.

 A 60-second-long orbit raising firing of the private probes 100-pound-thrust main engine was carried out successfully at 8:30 a.m. EDT (1230 GMT, 230 p.m. Israeli time) Tuesday, March 19, as the ship remains healthy and in communication with mission control, according to the mission team led by SpaceIL and Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI). 

 The thruster firing extended the spacecraft’s highly elliptical orbit around the Earth to an altitude or apogee of more than 250,000 miles (405,000 kilometers), officials with the mission announced this afternoon.

 Lunar gravitational capture of Beresheet is expected on April 4. 

If all goes well lunar touchdown is scheduled for April 11 at Mare Serenitatis (Sea of Serenity) on the Moon’s northern hemisphere.

 "Beresheet is now in an elliptical orbit where it is expected to leave Earth's orbit and join the moon's orbit at 405,000 km (251,655 miles) from Earth,” the team announced.

 “The spacecraft's systems are functioning as expected, and it is communicating with the IAI and SpaceIL control room in Yehud, Israel”.

 The Beresheet lunar lander is a joint endeavor funded and built by Israeli nonprofit SpaceIL and Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI). It marks Israel’s first lunar mission and also counts as being the world’s first privately funded lunar mission.
Beresheet lunar lander provided by Israeli nonprofit SpaceIL and Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) for launch on SpaceX Falcon 9 on Feb 21, 2019. Credit Space IL/IAI
Today’s maneuver marked the last major firing of the main engine. 

 A few much smaller trajectory adjustment firings are still planned by the engineering teams. These will optimize the spacecraft's trajectory for lunar capture in about two weeks, says Opher Doron, IAI Space Division General Manager. 

 “We are on the way to the moon very successfully right now,” Doron said in a post thruster firing maneuver briefing update today. 

 “That’s enough to reach the distance of the moon from the Earth, and it’s actually our last maneuver to get closer to the moon.  We will have a couple of more maneuvers over the following days that are small maneuvers to slightly adjust our trajectory, we are on our way to the moon very successfully right now.”

 Thereafter the team will command multiple orbit lowering burns to send Beresheet spiraling down to the moon and eventually a hoped for soft landing. 

 Doron explained the team was able to overcome problems with the probes star trackers that have not worked as expected. 

 “We’ve learned to deal with the difficulties we’ve been having with the star trackers, and what that entails in maneuvering the spacecraft in a non-nominal fashion.”

 The team was able to monitor the firing in real time. 

 “So that was working quite well today. We were lucky to have the engine firing in a communications pass. We actually saw it in real-time.”

 Altogether Beresheet has been commanded to conduct four orbit raising thruster firings. 

 A computer glitch on Feb 25 forced cancellation of the second planned orbit raising thruster firing maneuver as it continued on its current orbit to reach the Moon.  Eventually that 2nd engine firing was completed on Feb 28 following by a third one on March 7.
SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifts off on 1st launch of 2019 from Florida Space Coast delivering Nusantara Satu communications satellite to Earth orbit for Indonesia and privately funded Beresheet moon launder on lunar trajectory for Israel after Feb 21, 2019 nighttime liftoff at 8:45 PM EST  from Space Launch Complex-40 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, FL.  Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com/spaceupclose.com
Liftoff of the private Beresheet moon lander for Israel atop a recycled SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket took place in the evening of Feb. 21 at 8:45 p.m. EST (0145 GMT Friday) from Space Launch Complex-40 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, FL. It flew as a rideshare payload bolted to the primary payload – namely the Nusantara Satu communications satellite for Indonesia

To date only three countries have successfully landed on the Moon- the US, Russia and China and those were all government run missions.

Beresheet was developed at a cost of almost $100 million as the world’s first privately funded and developed moon lander.
Long duration streak shot of SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on 1st launch of 2019 from Florida Space Coast delivering Nusantara Satu communications satellite to Earth orbit for Indonesia and the privately funded Beresheet moon launder on lunar trajectory for Israel after Feb 21, 2019 nighttime liftoff at 8:45 PM EST from Space Launch Complex-40 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, FL.  Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com/spaceupclose.com
Beresheet, which in Hebrew means “genesis” or “in the beginning” was one of the competitors for the now defunct Google Lunar XPrize.

 The Falcon 9 launch propelled Beresheet onto the proper trajectory to begin a series of 4 elongating long looping orbits to gradually reach the moon.

 The four landing legs were deployed as planned soon after launch. 

 If successful it will be the smallest spacecraft to ever land on the Moon, at only 1,322 lbs, or 600 kgs, fueled. The probe has an unfueled mass of 180 kg. 
Selfie snapped by Beresheet spacecrafts on board camera shows the lander, Earth and Israeli flag at a distance of 23,000 miles (37,000 kilometers).  Credit: SpaceIL/IAI
Beresheet is traveling to the Moon using its own power and thruster after launching as a rideshare payload.  

 Overall the voyage takes about  two months over several expanding elliptical orbits – for the longest ever trip to Earth’s nearest neighbor covering a total distance of 6.5 million km. 

 It will transmit panoramic photos and video from the lunar surface and conduct scientific measurements with a magnetometer and laser retroreflector from NASA. Also onboard is an Israeli flag, a time capsule, and a lunar library. 

 Beresheet has a lifetime of about 2 days. There is no thermal control. The team hopes to make it hop about 500 meters before it dies.

 The moon probe measures 2.3 meters (7.5 ft) in diameter and 1.5 meters (4.9 feet) in height.

 Watch my post thruster maneuver interview on i24 Isreali TV News on March 19 here:

https://twitter.com/i24NEWS_EN/status/1108206769640271873

Dr. Ken Kremer/Space UpClose  (r) interviewed live on i24 News by news anchor Michelle Makori (l) following the Beresheet thruster firing on March 19, 2019 putting the probe on course for lunar gravitational capture. The mission launched on SpaceX Falcon 9 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Feb 21, 2019.Credit: i24/Ken Kremer/spaceupclose.com  
Watch my post launch interview on i24 Isreali TV News here:
Dr. Ken Kremer/Space UpClose interviewed by I24 anchor Michelle Makori during Beresheet mission launch on SpaceX Falcon 9 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Feb 21, 2019
For more on all this Fox 35 Orlando interviewed me about the Nusantara Satu/Beresheet moon lander launch and Mr. Steven’s arrival and fairing recovery goals. http://www.fox35orlando.com/news/local-news/spacex-plans-falcon-9-rocket-launch-for-thursday

Meanwhile the Falcon 9 first stage that launched Beresheet and then safely touched down on the OCISLY droneship at sea arrived into Port Canaveral by tugboat Sunday morning, Feb 24, just 2.5 days after blastoff.  Read my story photos here.

 Watch for Ken’s continuing onsite coverage of NASA, SpaceX, ULA, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and more space and mission reports direct from the Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida and Wallops Flight Facility, Virginia.

 Stay tuned here for Ken's continuing Earth and Planetary science and human spaceflight news: www.kenkremer.com –www.spaceupclose.com – twitter @ken_kremer – email: ken at kenkremer.com

 Dr. Kremer is a research scientist and journalist based in the KSC area, active in outreach and interviewed regularly on TV and radio about space topics.

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Ken’s photos are for sale and he is available for lectures and outreach events



Ken’s upcoming talks:

Apr 3: “Exploring Mars; The Search for Life & A Journey in 3-D.”  7 PM, Lawton C Johnson Middle School, Summit, NJ:  https://www.eventbrite.com/e/sef-grant-presents-exploring-mars-and-the-search-for-life-3d-registration-55524445110
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