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An old piece of rocket is set to crash into the Moon, previously thought to be the second stage of a SpaceX Falcon 9 that launched a NASA satellite called the Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) into orbit. Now, astronomers have corrected the information and indicate that it is actually a Chinese propellant, from a rocket launch in 2014 on the Chang’e 5-T1 mission (although China denies this).
It is estimated that it will collide with the Moon at regarding 9288 km / h, very close to the place and time that had been predicted, on March 4, 2022 at 12:25 UTC. It is approximately 12 meters long and weighs 4,500 kilograms. However, no one seems to be interested in recognizing whose rocket it is, initially it was said to be from SpaceX and now Chinese, but both denied ownership.
scientist bill grayan independent researcher and developer of software that tracks near-Earth objects, and colleagues at NASA’s JPL say they misidentified the object and now have strong evidence that it is a booster for the Chang’e 5-moon mission. T1.
The information has been confirmed by Arizona students at the university’s Space Domain Awareness lab at the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory. “We took a spectrum (which can reveal the material composition of an object) and compared it to Chinese and SpaceX rockets of similar types, and it matches the Chinese rocket,” said associate professor at UArizona Vishnu Reddy, who co-directs the Space Domain Knowledge lab with engineering professor Roberto Furfaro. “This is the best match, and we have the best possible evidence right now.”
If you are wondering regarding the visibility of the event, Bill Gray wrote earlier that “Unfortunately, observations will be basically impossible until February 7, when the object is at low elongation. Then we’ll have a brief viewing window of a day or two, during which it will be bright, close, and moving fast. The observations should allow us to pinpoint the point of impact to within a kilometer or so, possibly better… which is good, because from February 10 to March 4, it will be back at low elongations and we’re not going to see anything.” .
Although it will not be possible to observe the impact from Earth, there are satellites in lunar orbit that might. Satellites like NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter or India’s Chandrayaan-2, only they would have to coincide and the odds of them being up at the right time are pretty low. Perhaps they can perform a maneuver and drag the object, which will not happen if it is considered unimportant. But it will leave a crater that scientists can look at later and learn a little more regarding lunar geology.
Should this concern us? The short answer is not at all (at least for now). The Moon is constantly hit, not with rockets of course, but with objects from interstellar space, which become much larger, faster and leave notable craters.
Finally, it is not the first time that something man-made has crashed into the Moon. In 2009 it was done by a NASA satellite, albeit on purpose to detect key signatures of water ice. Gray says the old piece from Falcon 9 would mark the first unintentional lunar impact.
It is worth insisting that the impact does not represent any harm for the Moon or for anyone. Despite this, the concern regarding the increase in space debris should not be ignored as it may represent a serious problem in the future.
“The upcoming lunar impact well illustrates the need for a comprehensive regulatory regime in space, not only for the economically crucial orbits around Earth, but also applicable to the Moon,” said Holger Krag, Head of ESA’s Space Safety Program.
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