The Chinese rocket that hit the Moon had a hidden payload. New findings of the Americans

On March 4, 2022, a human-made object called WE0913A hit the lunar surface. Initially, it was believed to be a fragment of a rocket launched by the American company SpaceX. However, later findings suggested that there had been a mistake and that the object was part of the Chinese Long March 3C launch vehicle launched in 2014 as part of the “Chang 5-T1” mission. China categorically denied this information.

However, in recent days, new findings have emerged in this matter, confirming the assumptions from a year ago. According to a study published on November 16 in the scientific journal “The Planetary Science Journal”, scientists from the American Arizona State University stated that their observations of the object’s flight trajectory and its spectroscopic analyzes “conclusively show” that WE0913A was the third, upper stage of the Chinese rocket launched as part of the “Chang 5-T1” mission. They thus undermine Beijing’s claims that the element burned up in the Earth’s atmosphere long ago.

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The effects of its collision with a rock attracted scientists’ attention as much as the origin of the object. Unexpectedly, as a result of the collision in March 2022, not one, but two craters were created on the Moon’s surface – an eastern crater with a diameter of about 18 meters and a partially overlapping western crater with a diameter of 16 meters. This situation has not occurred during any of the dozens of previous collisions of human-made objects with the surface of an Earth satellite.

American scientists stated that the most likely explanation for this mystery is that the object that hit the Moon resembled a dumbbell – that is, it was oblong and had a significant, comparable mass at both ends.

– We know that in the case of the “Chang’e 5 T1” mission rocket, the impact occurred almost in a straight line down. In order (with such a trajectory – ed.) to obtain two craters of approximately the same size, two similar masses, far from each other, are needed – added Cambell, pointing to the justification for the veracity of his team’s claims.

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According to officially available information, the upper stage of the Długi March 3C rocket should have a significant mass only at one end, created by its engines weighing approximately 1,090 kg. At the other end of the section there should be only standard on-board instruments, the mass of which should not exceed 27 kilograms. This suggests that there must have been some additional, “undisclosed by China” payload on board the rocket with a mass sufficient to balance the mass of the engines.

– Of course, we have no idea what (the charge) could have been. It could have been some additional element of structure or instrumentation or something else, said the lead author of the study, Tanner Campbell, quoted on the University of Arizona website.

Scientists also justify the likelihood of the Chinese rocket carrying an unknown, additional payload, among others: its unusual trajectory. – Objects that remain in space for as long as this one are subjected to the gravitational forces of the Earth and the Moon as well as sunlight. So you would expect them to wobble a bit as they move. Especially if we are talking about a rocket whose body is a large, empty shell loaded on one side with a heavy engine. However, this object fell very steadily – explained Campbell, pointing out that the additional load balancing the mass of its engine most likely contributed to maintaining a stable trajectory of the rocket.

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