Washington: A Part of One spacex rocket which exploded seven years ago and was released into space after completing its mission, will crash Moon In March, experts say.
The rocket was upgraded to Class A in 2015. was deployed to install NASA satellite called Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR).
Since then, the second stage of the rocket, or booster, has been floating in what mathematicians call a chaotic orbit. bill gray told AFP on Wednesday.
It was Gray who calculated the new collision course of space junk with the Moon.
Gray said the booster passed close enough to the Moon in January, which changed its orbit.
he is behind Project Plutosoftware that allows to calculate the trajectories of asteroids and other objects in space and is used in space observation programs funded by NASA.
A week after the rocket stage came close to the Moon, Gray observed it again and concluded that it would crash into the dark side of the Moon on March 4 at a speed of more than 5,500 mph (9,000 kph).
Gray appealed to the amateur astronomer community to join in on the booster’s observations, and their conclusions were confirmed.
The exact time and location of the impact may vary slightly from forecast, but there is widespread agreement that the Moon will hit that day.
“I’ve been tracking this kind of junk for about 15 years. And this is the first unintentional lunar impact we’ve had,” Gray told AFP.
– Time to start regulation – Astronomer Jonathan McDowell told AFP it is possible similar effects may have gone unnoticed.
“In the 60s, 70s and 80s there were at least 50 objects left in deep Earth orbit that were just left there. We didn’t track them,” he said.
“Now we’re picking up some of them … but a lot of them we’re not looking for and so they’re not there anymore,” he said. “Maybe at least some of them accidentally landed on the moon and we just didn’t notice.”
The impact of a four-ton SpaceX rocket fragment on the Moon will not be visible from Earth in real time.
But it will leave a crater that scientists will be able to see with spacecraft and satellites like NASA Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Or India’s Chandrayaan-2, and thus learn more about the geology of the Moon.
Spacecraft have intentionally crashed into the Moon for scientific purposes, such as to test the seismometer during the Apollo missions.
In 2009, NASA sent a rocket stage to the Moon near its South Pole to search for water.
But most rockets don’t go that far from Earth. SpaceX propels its rocket boosters back through Earth’s atmosphere to scatter them over the ocean. The first stage is recovered and reused.
Gray said there could be more unintentional accidents to the Moon in the future as the US and Chinese space programs in particular leave more junk in orbit.
The US, along with international partners, is already planning a space station to orbit the Moon.
McDowell noted these developments “start to be problematic when there is a lot of traffic.”
“It’s really nobody’s job to keep track of the junk we leave behind in deep Earth orbit,” he said. “I think now is the time to regulate it.”
SpaceX did not immediately respond to a request for comment from AFP.
Elon MuskThe U.S. company is currently developing a lunar lander that should allow NASA to send astronauts back to the Moon by 2025 as soon as possible.
The rocket was upgraded to Class A in 2015. was deployed to install NASA satellite called Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR).
Since then, the second stage of the rocket, or booster, has been floating in what mathematicians call a chaotic orbit. bill gray told AFP on Wednesday.
It was Gray who calculated the new collision course of space junk with the Moon.
Gray said the booster passed close enough to the Moon in January, which changed its orbit.
he is behind Project Plutosoftware that allows to calculate the trajectories of asteroids and other objects in space and is used in space observation programs funded by NASA.
A week after the rocket stage came close to the Moon, Gray observed it again and concluded that it would crash into the dark side of the Moon on March 4 at a speed of more than 5,500 mph (9,000 kph).
Gray appealed to the amateur astronomer community to join in on the booster’s observations, and their conclusions were confirmed.
The exact time and location of the impact may vary slightly from forecast, but there is widespread agreement that the Moon will hit that day.
“I’ve been tracking this kind of junk for about 15 years. And this is the first unintentional lunar impact we’ve had,” Gray told AFP.
– Time to start regulation – Astronomer Jonathan McDowell told AFP it is possible similar effects may have gone unnoticed.
“In the 60s, 70s and 80s there were at least 50 objects left in deep Earth orbit that were just left there. We didn’t track them,” he said.
“Now we’re picking up some of them … but a lot of them we’re not looking for and so they’re not there anymore,” he said. “Maybe at least some of them accidentally landed on the moon and we just didn’t notice.”
The impact of a four-ton SpaceX rocket fragment on the Moon will not be visible from Earth in real time.
But it will leave a crater that scientists will be able to see with spacecraft and satellites like NASA Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Or India’s Chandrayaan-2, and thus learn more about the geology of the Moon.
Spacecraft have intentionally crashed into the Moon for scientific purposes, such as to test the seismometer during the Apollo missions.
In 2009, NASA sent a rocket stage to the Moon near its South Pole to search for water.
But most rockets don’t go that far from Earth. SpaceX propels its rocket boosters back through Earth’s atmosphere to scatter them over the ocean. The first stage is recovered and reused.
Gray said there could be more unintentional accidents to the Moon in the future as the US and Chinese space programs in particular leave more junk in orbit.
The US, along with international partners, is already planning a space station to orbit the Moon.
McDowell noted these developments “start to be problematic when there is a lot of traffic.”
“It’s really nobody’s job to keep track of the junk we leave behind in deep Earth orbit,” he said. “I think now is the time to regulate it.”
SpaceX did not immediately respond to a request for comment from AFP.
Elon MuskThe U.S. company is currently developing a lunar lander that should allow NASA to send astronauts back to the Moon by 2025 as soon as possible.
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