(Media Line-Ynet News) Maya Margit - Crucial tests await Israel's Beresheet spacecraft ahead of the April 11 scheduled landing, said Eran Schmidt, Deputy Project Manager of SpaceIL and Head of Ground Operations. "We've had several computer resets (which were likely) the result of...radiation." "The landing itself is a huge, huge test," he said. "We are going to send a command to the spacecraft to start (descending) and afterwards we will have 20 minutes when everything will work autonomously. So we need the sensor measurements to be good, the control system to act properly and we hope that we will not land in the middle of a crater on a rock." Israeli space expert Tal Inbar said, "Each day that the spacecraft moves towards the moon, the dosage of radiation from the sun and from cosmic (sources) is higher and higher. After a successful landing, the main challenge will be the heat. The spacecraft won't (be operational) for long on the surface of the moon because it was not built to withstand the extreme temperatures there."
2019-03-05 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive