A launch vehicle is said to have hit the moon and left behind a nice trigger: a double crater. NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter later spotted an unusual crater on the far side of the moon. No country has yet claimed responsibility for the missile and subsequent crash.
An unknown rocket crashed into the moon
NASA has discovered the crash site of a mysterious rocket. It was supposed to hit the far side of the moon during the spring. According to scientists, it seems that it left behind a rather large devastation in the form of a double crater.
New images taken on May 25 and shared by NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter on June 24 do indeed show the unusual object. The collision results in two overlapping impact points. The eastern crater with a diameter of 18 meters and the western crater with an area of 16 meters.
Clear evidence from NASA
Astronomers assumed all along that it was indeed an impact. The reason was a finding from last year, during which they discovered that an unidentified piece of space junk was on a collision course with the moon.
“However, the double crater was unexpected,” the space agency said in a press release. “No other impact of a rocket body on the moon has ever produced a double crater.”
According to NASA’s findings, the two craters may have formed a kind of two piles of matter. And that at each end of the racket. Even so, this would be unusual, as spent rockets usually have a heavy engine at one end and a lighter, empty fuel tank at the other.
According to Arizona State University data from 2016, there have been several “spaceship impacts” on the moon. At least 47 NASA rocket bodies could have crashed here and left certain objects behind.
Discovery of a double crater
An astronomer was the first to discover this mysterious crater Bill Gray. He subsequently alerted NASA to a possible collision that could have taken place on the moon. Gray said it was easier to discover the object than to locate it shortly after impact. Gray used near-earth object tracking software to make the discovery.
For more information, watch this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HKiURsd0nVQ
–
Source: Youtube
Gray also pointed to efforts to find a launch vehicle for Apollo 16, which NASA launched to the moon in 1972 to study lunar tremors. However, before the Apollo 16 launch vehicle touched down on the moon, NASA lost contact with it. The impact site thus remained undetectable for many years.
Finding one small crater among hordes of craters is not easy at all. Moreover, this crater was not found until six years after the impacts of the other Apollo rockets. Compared to this, research on the double crater is proceeding at a relatively fast pace.
Mysterious giant craters have appeared in Russia. They are noisy and bright. They are disturbing
reading for 5 minutes
–
–
–
–
No space state has yet claimed responsibility for the mysterious rocket – or how it might have appeared on the moon, and what is the reason for its alleged crash.
“Since the origin of the rocket body remains uncertain, the dual nature of the crater may indicate its identity,” NASA said in a press release.
Resources:
–
