The remains of a space rocket, weighing about three tons, will crash into the hidden side of the Moon this Friday, according to a statement from the University of Arizona, USA.
The debris is heading towards the Earth’s natural satellite at a speed of 9,300 km/h. This is the first time that space debris from human activity will impact a celestial body other than our planet without having targeted it, says Nature.
It was initially assumed to be a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket booster, but the team of scientists, led by Vishnu Reddy of the University of Arizona, have been closely monitoring the rocket’s rotation and light reflection, suggesting which is of Chinese origin.
Astronomers argue that it is probably fragments of a rocket launched by the Chinese lunar probe Chang’e-5 in 2014. According to their theory, although the spacecraft successfully returned to Earth, it is possible that the propellant has remained. circling chaotically in space ever since until it was ‘sucked in’ by lunar gravity.
The researchers estimate that the object could crash into or near the Hertzsprung crater on the far side of the Moon, leaving a hole about 10 to 20 meters in diameter and expelling lunar dust hundreds of kilometers.
“We don’t often get a chance to track something that we know is going to get to the Moon ahead of time,” said Tanner Campbell, an aerospace engineering graduate student.
“There is particular interest in seeing how impacts produce craters. It’s also interesting from an orbital prediction perspective, because it’s traveling between Earth and the Moon without propulsion,” he explained.
