A mass of space debris will collide with the moon – La Brijula ​​24

The Moon is about to collide with three tons of space debris, a blow that will create a crater large enough to fit several tractors.

The remnants of the rocket will crash into the far side of the moon on Friday at 9,300 kilometers (5,800 miles) per hour, out of view of telescopes. It may take weeks or even months to confirm the effect with satellite images.

Experts believe that trash has been floating in space since China launched the rocket nearly a decade ago. Although the Chinese authorities have expressed doubts that it is theirs.

Regardless of who launched it, scientists estimate that the object will punch a hole 10 to 20 meters (33 to 66 feet) in diameter and release lunar dust that can drift hundreds of kilometers across the barren surface of the moon.

SpaceX was initially blamed for what would become lunar debris, after asteroid tracker Bill Gray mapped the collision course in January.

A month later he corrected his observation, noting that the mysterious object was not the upper stage of the SpaceX Falcon rocket from the 2015 NASA Weather Observatory launch.

Gray said it was likely the third stage of a Chinese rocket that sent a sample capsule to the moon and returned in 2014. But Chinese officials say this stage re-entered Earth’s atmosphere and burned up.

The moon already contains countless craters, up to 2,500 kilometers (1,600 miles) in diameter. The Moon, which has little or no atmosphere, is helpless against a constant barrage of meteors, asteroids, and sometimes spacecraft, including some deliberately crashing for scientific purposes. Without weather, there is no erosion, so shock pits are permanent.

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China has a lunar probe on the far side of the moon, but it will be too far to detect the impact on Friday, north of the equator. NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter will also be out of range. India’s Chandrayaan-2 orbital probe is unlikely to pass through the region at that time.

The moon’s gravity can change the course of an object as it passes, adding to the uncertainty. And there are no easily accessible databases, except for the ones that experts like him and Gray put together in an instant.

Source: People’s Daily newspaper

Lovell Loxley

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