Capturing the moon – Beresheet gears up to escape Earth’s gravity

 

The Israeli spacecraft Beresheet is meant to escape the Earth’s gravitational pull on Thursday afternoon in a maneuver that will hopefully allow it to reach the moon. Should it fail to do so it will be trapped in the Sun’s gravitational pull and eventually melt near the sun. 
 

If successful, “capturing the moon” will lower the speed of the spacecraft to allow it to be “captured” by the moon’s gravitational pull, , Artuz Sheva reported. 
 

A successful capture will mean the spacecraft will first circle the moon in an elliptical course. The plan is to use further maneuvers to slow its velocity to change the course into a circular one. 
 

The circles are meant to become closer and closer to the surface of the moon until the expend April 11 landing. 
 

Ahead of the date, Israel’s Space Agency planned twenty cross-country events that will be open to the public free of charge.