Israeli Moon Landing... aaaaand it's gone

[Sermil]

Israel tried this morning to be the fourth country in history to land on the moon, and the first with a privately funded moon lander.... but the lander glitched out during the landing phase, and is believed lost.

https://spaceflightnow.com/2019/04/1...d-moon-lander/

Initial reports are pretty confused. Some reports say a problem with the IMU (Inertial Measurement Unit -- a super-sensitive accelerometer, basically, which lets the craft figure out where it is & where it's going); some reports say a problem with the main engine. There was also a telemetry glitch which might indicate a computer problem. But regardless, it's pretty clear it failed to finish the landing burn and came in far too fast to survive.

Space is hard

[Peelee]

So, they sent a device out of the atmosphere into orbit, got an orbital transition to the moon, orbited the moon, and then de-orbited.

Id call all that a smashing success, and a definite achievement for the organization that did it all. The last phase was less of a success, but they ARE still the 4th country to contact the moon (and I'm assuming the first private organization), just not in the way they'd hoped.

Turn that frown upside down!

[factotum]

Space is hard

Professor Colin Pillinger (RIP) would be right with you there, I think...

[snowblizz]

Vindication for all of us that have played Kerbal Space Program and done exactly that same thing.

[pendell]

Buzz Aldrin :

Condolences to the Beresheet lander @TeamSpaceIL for what almost was! Communications were lost with the spacecraft just 150 meters (!!!) above the surface, and it couldn't quite stick the landing. Never lose hope - your hard work, teamwork, and innovation is inspiring to all!

Evidently this is the first moon crash in 48 years -- but that's better than nothing at all , in my view.

Respectfully,

Brian P.

[Grey_Wolf_c]

this is the first moon crash in 48 years

No, it's the first unintentional moon crash in a while. There was an intentional one not that far back.

Grey Wolf

[LordEntrails]

No, it's the first unintentional moon crash in a while. There was an intentional one not that far back.

That's like saying when a guided missile hits its target it's a "catastrophic event".

Oh wait, that's exactly what the missile engineers call it!

[Eldan]

I don't think it's really just "believed lost", I've seen someone analyze the telemetry and apparently ,it had some few hundred meters per second horizontal velocity left. It's a smear on the moon, now, not just a crash.

[monomer]

That's like saying when a guided missile hits its target it's a "catastrophic event".

Oh wait, that's exactly what the missile engineers call it!

The term here for the lander would be RUD (Rapid Unscheduled Disassembly).

[LordEntrails]

The term here for the lander would be RUD (Rapid Unscheduled Disassembly).

That sounds like THUD!

Or would it have been more like Twack? Or is their only sound in space in Hollywood?

[factotum]

The term here for the lander would be RUD (Rapid Unscheduled Disassembly).

Or maybe unexpected lithobraking...

[halfeye]

That sounds like THUD!

Or would it have been more like Twack? Or is their only sound in space in Hollywood?

There is no sound in space, however the Moon is rock not space, so it would ring for a while.