'Technical Glitch' Doomed Israeli Beresheet Lander in its Final Moments

Israel's Beresheet spacecraft, which was set to land on the moon yesterday, suffered an engine and communications failure, causing it to crash into the lunar surface. Details are still emerging about what exactly went wrong. SpaceIL and the Israeli Aerospace Agency (IAI), who built and operated Beresheet, have released a few specifics about the spacecraft's last moments. The trouble began when the lander was just 8.7 miles above the lunar surface, and was caused by a vague "technical glit

from All DiscoverMagazine.com content http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/d-brief/?p=33707