A fragment of the rocket, which is so-called space debris, will hit the lunar surface at a speed of 8851 kilometers per hour on Friday. The collision will occur on the invisible side of our natural satellite. According to NASA scientists, a crater with a diameter of about 10-20 meters may be formed.
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Today, a fragment of the rocket will hit the moon at a speed of 8851 kilometers per hour. This is to happen at 13.26 Polish time. The event will not be visible from Earth, as it will occur on the invisible side of the Silver Globe, in the area of the Hertzsprung crater.
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“If it were visible, we would see a flash, dust, disintegrating rockets and boulders thrown up to hundreds of kilometers,” said astronomer Bill Gray, who was the first to report the object approaching Earth’s natural satellite.
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According to experts, this will be the first time so-called space debris accidentally hits the lunar surface. So this does not apply to spacecraft that crashed during the attempt to land on the Silver Globe and rockets aimed intentionally at the Moon.
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“An exciting opportunity for research”
According to NASA, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter space probe, i.e. an artificial satellite of the Moon, will not be able to perceive the impact.
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According to the US space agency, “this unique event is an exciting research opportunity.” The object is likely to form a crater about 10-20 meters in diameter, but NASA says it “will be difficult and may take weeks or months to find”.
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According to David Rothery from The Open University in the UK, where the rocket reaches, biological contamination can occur because the rocket fragments are not sterile. In his opinion, not all microbes will die. However, he added, there was very little risk of them reproducing.
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Unclear origin of the object
The origin of the rocket, some of which will hit the moon, is unknown.
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Initially, it was believed that part of the Falcon 9 rocket by SpaceX, which launched the Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) space probe into space in 2015, was considered on a collision course with the Moon.
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In mid-February, however, it was reported that the object was probably a part of the Chinese Long March 3C rocket. Eight years ago, it launched the Chang’e 5-T mission into orbit. As Bill Gray said, “there really is no good reason at present to believe that this object is anything other than part of this Chinese-owned rocket.”
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In turn, said Wang Wenbin, a spokesman for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, that the upper stage of the rocket launched in 2014 burned down after re-entering the Earth’s atmosphere.
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moonNASA
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CNN, space.com, tvnmeteo.pl
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photo-source">Main photo source: NASA
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