"I'm not worried, but it's definitely an unpleasant situation," Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) Space Division general manager Opher Doron said today, referring to the malfunction on Israeli spacecraft Beresheet, which has been maneuvering in space since late last week, on its way to the moon.
The spacecraft's scheduled maneuver to put it into elliptical orbit on its way to the moon did not take place because of an unplanned restart of its computer. Contact with the computer was lost for a short time, then renewed. "The spacecraft's computer restarted independently, thereby canceling the planned maneuver. In those moments, there was no communication with between the spacecraft and the ground station. When communications were restored, we realized that the maneuver had not taken place because of the restart had taken place at too early a stage for the planned process," SpaceIL CEO Dr. Ido Anteby told reporters.
SpaceIL and IAI said that the malfunction created strain and tension in the Yehud control room. "There were moments of great tension in the control room," Anteby said. "Communication with the spacecraft is now being maintained, together with thorough testing to detect the reason for the malfunction that caused the restart in the spacecraft's computer."
The maneuver was planned to take place when the spacecraft was relatively close to the Earth (a distance of 600 kilometers). The spacecraft was supposed to propel itself towards a distant point from which it would expand the elliptical orbit that would lead it to the moon in six weeks in preparation for landing there. "We don't know yet how much this malfunction jeopardizes Beresheet's mission," Anteby said in response to a question from "Globes," adding, "It's unpleasant, but I'm not worried. There are all sorts of things that don't make the mission any easier, and we're trying to understand what caused it. We're analyzing the event and we'll be able to better assess the situation in the coming hours."
IAI added that a window of opportunity for the maneuver opens every 24 hours, but it is still unclear whether this maneuver will be performed today or tomorrow. Despite the malfunction, IAI and SpaceIL said that at this stage, if the mission is successfully completed, Beresheet's scheduled landing date of April 11 would not be affected.
Shortly after the spacecraft was launched late last week, a problem was detected with the star tracker used to navigate it. It was learned that the sensor used for this purpose was dazzled by rays from the sun. "In principle, we are learning to live with this dazzling and are adapting our maneuvering accordingly. We believe that this will not constrain us later in the mission," Doron said.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on February 26, 2019
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