On March 4, a mysterious rocket stranded in space collided with the Moon, without having to fear for our satellite anything more than a small crater. Although the moment of impact was predicted, it could not be recorded, since it took place in the hidden face of the moon. It only remained to look for the crater a posteriori and, with it, try to place the pieces to guess where that mysterious object came from. Finally, after a few months of searching, they have managed to find the crash site, discovering something surprising. That It didn’t leave one crater, but two.
The image in question has been captured by the cameras of the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and shows a rare phenomenon, but not impossible. As pointed out from Universe Todayusually impacts from rockets or spacecraft they do not usually leave a double crater. You only have to see the signs that he left on the Moon, any of the apollo missions. However, it can happen.
Specifically, you need either a low angle of impact O well two very different masses at each end of the object in question. We know for sure that the angle was not low, so we are only left with the second option. And, in fact, it is an option that makes the information about the origin of this mysterious object much clearer.
The mysterious rocket that hit the moon
Last January, Bill Grayan astronomer specializing in the detection of near-Earth objects (NEOs), announced the discovery of an object that came so close to the Moon that it would end up colliding with it.
After verifying that it was too small to pose a danger, he began his investigations to try to discern where that mysterious impactor came from. His calculations led him to one of the stages of the Falcon 9 rocket that SpaceX had used to launch NASA’s Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) in 2015.
That was his hypothesis until another astronomer, Jon Giorgini, contacted him to warn him of an error in his calculations. Indeed, it was impossible that the trajectory of that rocket was directed to our satellite in that way. Gray had to re-investigate him until he found a new candidate. A Chinese rocket used in the mission Chang’e 5-T1.
However the Ministry of Foreign Affairs The Chinese soon came out to answer the astronomer’s accusations. They assured that it was not his rocket, since it had gone out of orbit and had crashed into the ocean shortly after its launch, in 2014.
So where does the double crater come from?
Some accidental rocket impacts on the Moon have left craters that have taken years to find. That is why the scientists who have led the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter in its search can be proud that it took little more than a couple of months. And it is that, although the result has just been announced, Gray and the rest of the astronomers who have followed the impact they already had the images at the end of may.
In them you see a 18 meter eastern crater wide overlapping a western one of 16 meters. It is clear that the object in question had a conformation that marked the selenite surface twice when it crashed. And that actually still squares with the Chinese rocket.
For this reason, as Gray explained, it could be that the minister of the Asian country made an innocent mistake, by confusing it with the rocket that propelled Chang’e 5. It is known that this one did hit the ocean, but there is no data on where it ended up Chang’e 5-T1. Be that as it may, the impact can give us almost real-time information on how the selenite surface reacts to this type of incident.
There is no harm that does not come for good, although this event can also be seen as a wake-up call about the consequences of increase in space debris. In this case everything has gone well. However, if the impact were to occur on a major artificial satellite or the International Space Station, the consequences could be much worse. It is clear that there is an urgent need to find ways to reduce the amount of this type of waste.