An out-of-control large rocket part of unknown origin is predicted to land on the invisible "dark" side of the moon. And that day is approaching, it's March 4.
Although the impact will not be visible from telescopes on Earth or from the US Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), NASA's spacecraft will probably be able to see the "meteors" - the crater that will be created - with its cameras.
Although the impact will not be visible from telescopes on Earth or from the US Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), NASA's spacecraft will probably be able to see the "meteors" - the crater that will be created - with its cameras. But this search could take weeks or even months.
The origin of the large space "junk" is foggy. At first it was thought to be part of a Falcon 9 rocket from the US Space X rocket, which had put an environmental satellite into orbit in February 2015. Subsequent observations, according to Space.com, weakened this scenario and made it more likely that the rocket remnant came from the Chinese Chang'e 5-T1 rocket launched in 2014.
But on February 21, China categorically denied this, saying that the upper part of the rocket in question was completely burned up in the atmosphere, according to the Athens News Agency. This denial seems to be confirmed by newer data from the US Space Force, according to which the rocket segment in question probably entered the Earth's atmosphere in October 2015, about a year after its launch, according to SpaceNews. But other researchers doubt this, and as a result, there continues to be uncertainty about the origin of the out-of-bounds rocket.
The LRO, which has been orbiting the Moon since 2009 mapping it and searching for areas of water, has previously spotted several things on the lunar surface, such as the various landing sites of the 1969-1972 U.S. Apollo missions or the impact site of part of an Apollo 16 mission rocket in April 1972. Maybe this time he will at least see the spot where the rocket remnant will fall.
Source: newsbeast.gr
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