NASA releases photos of Israeli beresheet moon lander crash site

A NASA spacecraft in orbit around the Moon spotted the crash site of Israel’s Beresheet robotic lander, which had slammed into the surface during a landing attempt in April.

NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) took the photos asit passed overthe landing site onApril 22, 11 days afterthe crash, froman altitude of56 miles (90 km) abovethe surface.

The images show that the lander left a dark, 10-meter-long smudge acrossthe Moon where it hit and then disintegrated. However, the LRO could not detect whether Beresheet formed a surface crater onimpact.

The lander, which aimed tobe the first spacecraft made withmostly private funding totouch downon the surface ofthe Moon, was the creation ofthe Israeli nonprofit SpaceIL working inpartnership withIsrael Aerospace Industries and was launched ontop ofa SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket inFebruary.

The crash occurred due toan errant command that was entered intothe lander’s computer, which started a chain reaction that ended withthe spacecraft’s main engine shutting downtoo early. As a result, the lander couldn’t slow downenough duringits descent tothe surface and broke apart onimpact.

The results ofthe full investigation intothe crash are expected tobe published bySpaceIL later inMay.

(SPUTNIK)