The Science Mission of SpaceIL’s Beresheet Lander

Abstract SpaceIL’s lunar lander mission Beresheet was launched on February 22, 2019 and impacted its targeted landing site in Mare Serenitatis on the Moon on April 11, 2019. The spacecraft carried a package of scientific instruments including a fluxgate magnetometer and a retroreflector array for laser ranging, as well as a suite of cameras. Orbital measurements of the magnetic field from Kaguya and Lunar Prospector guided the selection of the landing site to a location west of Posidonius crater in the Serenitatis plains, where the magnitude of the modeled magnetic field reaches 8-10 nT at the surface. Data was collected by the SILMAG magnetometer from Earth orbit, lunar orbit, and during the descent maneuver, although its interpretation is hindered by the presence of a spacecraft field.