In the history of space exploration, only the U.S., Russia, and China have landed a spacecraft on the moon. That could change on Thursday, when an Israeli probe now in orbit around the moon attempts to settle on the lunar surface. - NBCNewsMACH
On Tuesday, the lander fired its engines for 78 seconds to tighten its orbit around the moon. “Beresheet entered a circular orbit of 200 km above the moon and will circle it once every two hours,” SpaceIL officials tweeted.
In addition to cameras, Beresheet is equipped with a magnetometer that will be used to measure the magnetism of lunar rocks. This could help scientists understand when and how the moon acquired its magnetic field, according to Oded Aharonson, a professor of planetary science at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel, who is leading the mission’s science team.has been an enigma for decades,” Aharonson said in a statement.
The Beresheet mission was originally part of the Google Lunar X Prize competition, which offered a $20 million grand prize to the first privately funded team to land a robotic craft on the moon, drive at least 500 meters and beam back photos and video. The competition expired last year without a winner, but its sponsor, the Culver City, California-based X Prize Foundation, announced in March that it would award $1 million to SpaceIL if the Beresheet landing is successful.
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