The moon is about to get walloped by 3 tons of space junk, a punch that will carve out a crater that could fit several semitractor-trailers.
A leftover rocket is expected to smash into the far side of the moon at 5,800 mph on Friday, March 4, 2022, away from telescopes' prying eyes. It may take weeks, even months, to confirm the impact through satellite images. Credit: AP Photo/Michael Sohn, Fileat 5,800 mph on Friday, away from telescopes' prying eyes. It may take weeks, even months, to confirm the impact through satellite images.
SpaceX originally took the rap for the upcoming lunar litter after asteroid tracker Bill Gray identified the collision course in January. He corrected himself a month later, saying the"mystery" object was not a SpaceX Falcon rocket upper stage from the 2015 launch of a deep space climate observatory for NASA.moon
This 2011 image made available by NASA shows the lunar far side. A leftover rocket is expected to smash into the far side of the moon at 5,800 mph on Friday, March 4, 2022, away from telescopes' prying eyes. It may take weeks, even months, to confirm the impact through satellite images. Credit: NASA/Goddard/Arizona State University via AP
The moon already bears countless craters, ranging up to 1,600 miles . With little to no real atmosphere, the moon is defenseless against the constant barrage of meteors and asteroids, and the occasional incoming spacecraft, including a few intentionally crashed for science's sake. With no weather, there's no erosion and so impact craters last forever.
After initially pinning the upcoming strike on Elon Musk's SpaceX, Gray took another look after an engineer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory questioned his claim. Now, he's"pretty thoroughly persuaded" it's a Chinese rocket part, based not only on orbital tracking back to its 2014 liftoff, but also data received from its short-lived ham radio experiment.
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Soviet-era space shuttle carrier aircraft destroyed in Russian attack on UkraineRobert Pearlman is a space historian, journalist and the founder and editor of collectSPACE.com, an online publication and community devoted to space history with a particular focus on how and where space exploration intersects with pop culture. Pearlman is also a contributing writer for Space.com and co-author of 'Space Stations: The Art, Science, and Reality of Working in Space” published by Smithsonian Books in 2018. He previously developed online content for the National Space Society and Apollo 11 moonwalker Buzz Aldrin, helped establish the space tourism company Space Adventures and currently serves on the History Committee of the American Astronautical Society, the advisory committee for The Mars Generation and leadership board of For All Moonkind. In 2009, he was inducted into the U.S. Space Camp Hall of Fame in Huntsville, Alabama. In 2021, he was honored by the American Astronautical Society with the Ordway Award for Sustained Excellence in Spaceflight History.
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