Very soon over 3 tons of space junk is going to collide with the moon. The collision can punch a carter on the moon, big enough to fit several trailers.
Space junk to collide with the moon
Space junk from a leftover rocket is speeding towards the moon at 5,800 mph. It is expected to crash into the far side of the moon, away from the telescopes’ view on Friday. However, it may take weeks or months to confirm the event with the help of satellite imagery. Experts believe that the debris is traveling through space almost a decade ago since China launched it. However, China is denying claims that it was theirs. Irrespective of the junk’s ownership, experts believe that it will carve a carter anywhere between 10 to 20 meters and send moon dust flying across space.
Originally, SpaceX took the blame for the litter from a SpaceXFalcon rocket’s upper stage from 2015. However, Bill Gray, an asteroid tracker identified the collision source and corrected that it was not a SpaceX object. Gray believes it to be the third stage of a Chinese rocket from 214 that was used for sending a test sample capsule. However, officials from the Chinese ministry stated that it had reentered Earth’s atmosphere and burned on re-entry.
Is this your litter?
While low-orbiting space debris is easy to track, the far-flung ones are often disappearing from focus. The US Space Command tracking space junk from the lower debris later confirmed that the upper stage from China’s 2014 mission never deorbited. However, the command could not confirm the identity of the speeding debris. “We focus on objects closer to the Earth. I’ve become a little bit more cautious of such matters. But I just don’t see any way it could be anything else,” said Gary. Supporting Gray’s assessment, Jonathan McDowell from Harvard and the Smithsonian Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics stated that it will leave a crater on the moon.
The moon bears thousands of carters with the biggest being 1,600 miles. And they last forever since the moon lacks atmosphere. While China has a lander on the far side of the moon, tracking it is a challenge due to its location .“I had been hoping for something to hit the moon for a long time. Ideally, it would have hit on the near side of the moon at some point where we could see it,” he explained. “It’s not a SpaceX problem, nor is it a China problem. Nobody is particularly careful about what they do with junk at this sort of orbit. We are now in an era where many countries and private companies are putting stuff in deep space, so it’s time to start to keep track of it,” he added. After all, leftover space junk can fly by causing problems.
