(ORDO NEWS) — An unknown rocket collided with the Moon and created a new crater with a diameter of 10-20 meters.
According to orbital calculations, an unknown rocket crashed into the moon on Friday, creating a new crater on the surface of the Earth satellite. This is the first known case of an unintentional collision of a spacecraft with the Moon in history. This was reported in a press release published in the journal Phys.org.
The impact, predicted by astronomer Bill Gray, was to occur at 12:25 GMT on the far side of the Moon. The speed of an object weighing four tons was approximately 9300 kilometers per hour, so it should have left a crater with a diameter of 10-20 meters. The speed, trajectory, and time of the collision were calculated using a ground-based telescope.
Gray initially identified the object as a SpaceX rocket, but then said it could be a Chang’e 5-T1 third-stage booster launched in 2014 as part of the Chinese space agency’s lunar exploration program.
Despite China claiming that the booster entered the Earth’s atmosphere and burned up, the astronomer claimed that a second rocket of the same name, launched much later, collided with the Moon.
Only NASA‘s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and India‘s Chandrayaan 2 orbiting the Moon can image the crater.
In late January, the US space agency said it wanted to explore the crater, but added that finding it would be a difficult task that could take weeks to months. Both probes are only able to observe any region of the Moon once a month.
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