NASA has photographed the crash site of a mysterious rocket that crashed into the far side of the moon in March, and an unidentified spacecraft left a strange double crater that baffled scientists.
This crash site image was captured by NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) on May 25 and dada On June 24. Images show that the stray wreck (the origin of which is disputed) somehow caused two overlapping holes when the wreck collided on the far side. moon Travels at 5,770 mph (9,290 km/h).
An unexpected double hole adds an extra layer of weirdness to the puzzle that has baffled space watchers since January, when Bill Gray, an American astronomer and developer of software tracking near-Earth objects, predicted that a piece of orbiting space junk would hit the far side of the moon within a few months, Live Science previously reported. When Gray first discovered the wreck, he suggested it was the second stage of Elon Musk’s SpaceX-launched Falcon X rocket in 2015. But subsequent observations and analysis of orbital data suggested that the object was. Spent the top stage of China’s Chang’e 5-T1 rudal missilestarship (Named after the Chinese moon goddess) which was launched in 2014. However, Chinese officials disagree, claiming that the upper stage of this missile caught fire. Earth Joe last year.
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So far, at least 47 NASA rocket bodies have fallen to the moon, according to Arizona State UniversityBut NASA’s ‘unexpected double crater’ write in a statement. “There is no other rocket object on the Moon that produces a double crater.”
Although scientists were unable to directly observe the moment of impact, experts estimate that the ejected rocket hit the lunar surface in Hertzsprung crater on the far side of the moon, on March 4 at 7:25 a.m. ET United States (12:25). GREENWICH TIME). Observations from the LRO show the moon’s curvature – the eastern crater is 59 feet (18 m) wide, and the western crater 52.5 feet (16 m) wide. If NASA’s LRO had been positioned to capture images of the collision, it would likely have documented a plume of lunar dust hundreds of miles up.
Scientists are still hypothesizing what may have created the two craters. NASA representatives say one possibility is that the crater formed from a piece of debris that has two large masses at each end – although that scenario is unusual.
“Usually the spent rocket mass is concentrated at the end of the engine, while the rest of the rocket stage consists mostly of empty fuel tanks,” the statement said.
Is it really a Chang’e 5-T1 amplifier?
Since the booster rocket would likely have disintegrated completely upon impact, it is uncertain whether investigations of the crater will provide significant clues to its controversial source. But some astronomers believe most of the mystery has been solved. gray write on the blog Soon after the images were published, the object was conclusively identified as the Chang’e 5-T1 enhancer.
“I really believe there can’t be anything else,” Gray told Live Science. “At this point, we rarely get anything so certain.”
Gray made his first prediction that the controversial piece of debris would collide with the Moon after it was seen falling into space in March 2015. The object (provided the provisional name WE0913A) was first illuminated by the Catalina Sky Survey, a group of telescopes near Tucson, Arizona, that was examining our cosmic environment in search of dangerous asteroids that could collide with Earth. However, WE0913A is not about sunLike asteroid But it orbits Earth instead. Gray suspected that the body was man-made.
After misidentifying the mysterious debris as a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, Gray returns to the data to find that another spacecraft is close to the debris path to the moon: the top stage of China’s Chang’e 5-T1 mission, which launched in October. 2014 As part of the initial mission to send a test capsule to the Moon and back.
Chinese Foreign Ministry officials have denied that the space junk was theirs, insisting that the Chang’e 5 missile did catch fire on its return flight to Earth in 2014. But US experts dispute the claim, noting that Chinese officials may have screwed up the 2014 missile. with similar. Of the 2020 missions, this first hit the moon. On March 1, the US Department of Defense Space Command, which tracks space junk in low-Earth orbit, issue a statement They say that China’s 2014 missiles are not in orbit.
Gray believes the orbital data, which are nearly perfect with the Chinese missile’s initial trajectory, are conclusive.
“A large number of lunar missions are in orbit; its tilt means that, in the past, it has headed towards China; has headed east as the Chinese lunar missions did; and its estimated launch time is within 20 minutes of the Chang’e 5-T1 rocket, Gray said.
An amateur radio satellite (or “Cubesat”) was connected to the Chang’e 5-T1 for the first 19 days of its flight, and trajectory data sent from that satellite exactly matched the current missile debris trajectory, according to Gray. . Others have also identified important evidence supporting Gray’s conclusions; NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory Center for Near-Earth Object Studies has confirmed Gray’s analysis of the orbital data, and a team from the University of Arizona identified the rocket as part of the Chang’e 5-T1 mission by analyzing the spectrum of light reflected by the layers. on crushed rubble. .
While this is the first piece of unwanted alien space to accidentally hit the moon, it’s not the first time a man-made satellite has crashed there. In 2009, NASA’s Crater Sensing and Monitoring Satellite purposely launched into the moon’s south pole at 5,600 mph (9,000 km/h), releasing clumps that allowed scientists to detect chemical signatures of water ice. NASA also got rid of the Saturn 5 Apollo rocket by blasting it into the moon.
Gray said the confusion surrounding the object’s identity highlights the real need for space agencies and private companies everywhere to develop better procedures for tracking the rockets they send into space (which will also prevent objects from being mistaken for Earth-threatening asteroids). .
“From my selfish point of view, it will help us track the asteroid better,” said Gray. “The attention paid to LEO satellites has not been applied to LEO satellites because people have learned that it doesn’t really matter. And I hope the United States is now considering going back to the Moon and other countries shipping things there too, that might be a change. Situation”.
Originally published in Live Science.
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