This crash will send debris from the surface of the Moon into space.
A wayward rocket will crash into the moon on Friday, marking the first time that space junk has accidentally hit the lunar surface. This rocket, weighing four tons, will fall into a crater on the Moon at a speed of 8,800 kilometers per hour.
expected time of impact, according to Guardian It is 12.25 pm GMT (5.55pm IST). It further explained that the crash would create a large crater, and would also send moon dust and debris flying 20 to 30 meters.
“Things have hit the Moon in the past, but they were mainly intentional impacts, or we tried to land on the surface and crash,” Dr Vishnu Reddy, associate professor at the University of Arizona, told The Guardian. “It’s the impact of a rocket body that’s unintentional,” said the man whose team helped identify the object.
The wayward rocket was previously believed to be a part of a SpaceX rocket that exploded seven years ago and was released into space after completing its mission.
But it is now considered a booster for Chang’e 5-T1, launched in 2014 as part of the Chinese space agency’s lunar exploration program.
However, China rejected the claim, saying that the booster in question had “safely entered Earth’s atmosphere and was completely consumed”.
The event will highlight the extent of space junk beyond Earth, where the US already tracks more than 27,000 pieces of orbital debris.
Astronomers say they won’t be able to observe the crash directly, but expect the image to be taken soon by either NASA’s Lunar Orbiter or India’s Chandrayaan 2, which is orbiting the Moon.
In September last year, the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) had said that Chandrayaan 2 has completed 9,000 orbits of the Moon and the onboard instruments are working nominally.
India’s second mission to the Moon, Chandrayaan was launched on 2 July 2019 from the Satish Dhawan Space Center in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh. The orbiter was injected into lunar orbit on September 2, 2019. It consists of eight experiments designed to address many open questions on lunar science.