Astronomers have revealed that the SpaceX rocket that was launched into space nearly seven years ago is now on its way to hitting the moon in early March.
The Falcon 9 rocket has been floating in a somewhat chaotic orbit since Elon Musk launched his first space mission by sending a space weather satellite on a one million mile journey in 2015.
After completing a long burn to reach a transfer orbit, the rocket’s second stage becomes obsolete when the Space Climate Observatory begins its journey to the Lagrange point between the Sun and Earth.
The launch vehicle is high enough to not have enough fuel to return to our planet’s atmosphere, but it also lacks the energy to escape the gravity of the Earth-Moon system.
Now, experts say the orbit of the former rocket is on its way to intersect with the moon on March 4.
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Astronomers have revealed that the SpaceX rocket that was launched into space nearly seven years ago is now on its way to hitting the moon in early March.
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The second stage of Falcon 9 has been floating in a somewhat chaotic orbit since Elon Musk launched his first space mission by sending a space weather satellite on a one million mile journey in 2015.
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What is the Space Climate Observatory doing?
The Deep Space Climate Observatory, or DSCOVR (Obvious Detection), is designed to provide early warning of solar flares that could disrupt life on Earth.
In 2015, DSCOVR spent nearly four months traveling a million miles, four times as far from the Moon, to the so-called Lagrangian Point, a gravitationally neutral location directly aligned with the Sun.
At this observation site, 92 million miles from the sun, it provides early warning of an impending geomagnetic storm that could disrupt electricity and communications on Earth, starting in midsummer.
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Earlier this month, Bill Gray, who wrote the widely used Project Pluto software for tracking near-Earth objects, asteroids, and comets, invited amateur and professional astronomers to make additional observations of the rocket.
With this new data, Gray believes that Falcon 9’s upper stage will most likely collide with the far side of the moon, near the equator, although it is difficult to accurately predict the effect of sunlight on the rocket and slightly alter its orbit.
“This unexpected effect is very small,” said Gray. “But it will increase between now and March 4,” he added, meaning that more observations will be needed to improve the exact timing and location of the impact.
“Space junk can be a little tricky,” Gray said. I have a fairly complete mathematical model of what the earth, moon, sun and planets do and how their gravity affects the body.
I have a rough idea of how much sunlight pushes an object outward, gently pushing it away from the sun. This usually allows me to make predictions with great confidence.
If this prediction is correct, satellites currently orbiting the moon, including NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and India’s Chandrayaan-2 spacecraft, will collect observations of the impact crater.
In 2009, NASA purposely crashed a used rocket into the Moon for this purpose.
But on this last occasion, it is believed that this will be the first time a spacecraft has accidentally hit the lunar surface.
Now, experts say the spent second -stage orbit is on its way to intersect with the moon on March 4th
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The Deep Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) rocket launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida in February 2015 as part of a $340m (£252m) mission
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During interplanetary missions, the top of the rocket is usually sent into a heliocentric orbit to keep it away from Earth and the Moon, while for near-Earth spacecraft launches, it is usually returned to the atmosphere to be burned.
The second stage of the Falcon 9, which has a mass of about 4 tons, is expected to reach the Moon at a speed of about 5,700 mph (2.58 km/s).
It launched the Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida in February 2015 as part of a $340 million (£252 million) mission.
The DSCOVR replaces a 17-year-old satellite monitor for potentially dangerous solar storms, which can interfere with GPS signals, block radio communications, and affect Earth’s power grid.
It also has two soil monitoring sensors to track volcanic plumes, measure ozone, and monitor droughts, floods and fires.
