Elon Musk's rocket will hit the moon in a month
Miscellaneous / / January 27, 2022
But we, unfortunately, will not see it.
The Falcon 9 rocket was launched by SpaceX in 2015 to put the DSCOVR spacecraft into orbit to observe the Sun and the Earth. Her second stage did not have enough fuel to return to our planet, so she remained in space and began to move in a chaotic orbit.
Data Analyst Bill Gray used software for tracking near-Earth space objects and found that this part of the rocket flew very close to the moon on January 5th. He calculated that on March 4, the remnants of the Falcon 9 would collide with the satellite. From the Earth, it will not be possible to observe the explosion of the stage, because it will happen on the far side of the Moon.
Professor Jonathan McDowell of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in the USA notedthat the chaotic movement of an object is explained by the fact that it is attracted by the gravitational forces of the Moon, the Earth and the Sun.
The astronomer added that this would be the first known uncontrolled rocket impact with the moon.
In essence, [the Falcon 9 second stage] is an empty four-ton metal tank with a rocket engine in the back. So if you imagine throwing it at 5,000 miles per hour [8,047 km/h] at a rock, it's not going to be fun.
Professor Jonathan McDowell
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Cambridge, USA
In fact, the step speed is even higher. Gray calculated that she was moving at a speed of 2.58 km/s, or 9,288 km/h. The analyst also showed the place where the unit will land Falcon 9 - Near Hertzsprung crater with a diameter of 570 km, located near the lunar equator:
Probably, after the collision, a new artificial crater will appear on the surface of the Moon. But the disaster will not happen.
In 2009, Professor McDowell, together with colleagues from NASA held similar experiment. As part of the LCROSS mission, a rocket upper stage of a similar size crashed into the moon, but without serious consequences.
The astronomer noted that there is a positive moment in the new history. It will help prepare for subsequent collisions of space debris with planets and satellites.
If we find ourselves in a future where there are cities and bases on the moon, we want to know in advance what is happening there. It's much easier to arrange this when the movement in space is slow, rather than waiting for it to become a problem.
Professor Jonathan McDowell
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Cambridge, USA
Data from spacecraft that are currently orbiting the Moon will help to more accurately analyze the situation and assess the scale of the impact crater. These are the LRO reconnaissance vehicle launched by NASA, and the Indian automatic interplanetary station Chandrayaan-2.
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For 10 years in IT, I tried a lot: I worked as a system administrator and tester, I wrote in a dozen different languages programming, led the computer department of the editorial office of a printed newspaper and led news feeds high-tech portals. I can patch KDE2 for FreeBSD - and tell you in detail about all the nuances of this process. I dream about homemade R2-D2 and space flight.
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