Space: Large piece of rocket, of unknown origin, will land on the Moon on March 4

The day is coming, March 4, when a large runaway part of a rocket of unknown origin is forecast to fall on the unseen “dark” side of the moon.

Although the impact will not be visible from ground-based telescopes or the US Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), NASA’s spacecraft will likely be able to see the “meteorites” — the crater that will be created — with its cameras. . But this search can take weeks or even months.

The origin of the “garbage” of great space is misty. It was initially thought to be part of the US Space X Falcon 9 rocket, which launched an environmental satellite in February 2015. Subsequent observations, according to Space.com, weakened this scenario and made it more likely that the missile debris came from the Chinese. Chang’e 5-T1 rocket launched in 2014.

But on February 21, China categorically denied this, saying that the upper part of the missile was completely burned up in the atmosphere. This rebuttal appears to be confirmed by the latest data from the US Space Force, according to which the rocket-specific particle likely entered the Earth’s atmosphere in October 2015, about a year after launch, according to SpaceNews. But other researchers have disputed this, with the result that there is still uncertainty about the unmanned rocket’s origin.

The LRO, which has been orbiting the Moon since 2009 mapping and searching for water areas, has located several objects on the lunar surface in the past, such as the different landing points of the American Apollo missions from the period 1969-1972. or the point of impact of a rocket part of the Apollo 16 mission in April 1972. Maybe this time you will see at least the point where the remains of the rocket will fall.

source: iefi merida