NASA snaps photo of Beresheet crash site on moon

NASA releases a photo of the impact site of the Israeli Beresheet spacecraft on the moon.

The image was captured by NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter on April 22, 11 days after the SpaceIL probe malfunctioned during its much-anticipated landing and crashed onto the moon’s surface.

“From so far away, LROC could not detect whether Beresheet formed a surface crater upon impact,” says NASA. “It’s possible the crater is just too small to show up in photos. Another possibility is that Beresheet formed a small indent instead of a crater, given its low angle of approach (around 8.4 degrees relative to the surface), light mass (compared to a dense meteoroid of the same size), and low velocity (again, relative to a meteoroid of the same size; Beresheet’s speed was still faster than most speeding bullets).”

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