In March, rocket debris crashed into the Moon. The place of impact has just been spotted and photographed by the American space agency – and it has a surprise in store.
Pieces of metal lost in space are rarely talked about. However, in February 2022, this is what happened:the stage of an old rocket was spotted by the Virtual Telescope Project, which also announced that the latter was going to crash on the Moon.
The news was already extraordinary in itself – especially if we add to this story the misunderstanding about the origin of the rocket. On June 24, 2022, NASA made people talk about this piece of rocket again: a probe from the American space agency spotted the place of impact. And the photos taken revealed a surprise: a double crater.
A particular impact
It was the Luna Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) probe, which orbits the Moon, which spotted the point of impact. ” Astonishment “, writes NASA on its site, “ it is not one crater, but two. The photo taken by the probe clearly shows a crater to the east, with a diameter of 18 meters, superimposed on another crater, more to the west, with a diameter of 16 meters.
” The double crater was unexpected “says NASA, “ and could indicate that the debris was heavy at both ends. Normally, the weight of a used rocket is concentrated at the engine level, since the rest is an empty tank “. Indeed, all the other craters created during impacts with rockets or launchers are simple: no other rocket debris has double craters, recalls NASA.
This discovery is therefore not insignificant, especially considering the fact that the origin of the rocket that crashed is still controversial. However, ” the double crater could make it possible to indicate “Its origin, estimates the space agency.
A controversial origin
The piece of rocket that crashed was first identified as a former SpaceX launch vehicle, more specifically, the remains of a Falcon 9 rocket, which would have been used to launch a satellite in 2015. But some days after the announcement of the discovery of the old rocket, astronomer Bill Gray is contacted by a member of NASA, and realizes that something is wrong with this hypothesis.
He therefore began to search for other space missions that could be linked to the debris. It’s looking for missions, launched before March 2015, in a high orbit past the Moon — a fairly rare altitude, with most staying relatively close to Earth. His research finally led him to consider the Chinese Chang’e 5-TI mission, launched in October 2014 into high orbit, as the right one.
Except that China has never recognized the space debris as its own: a spokesperson for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs even declared that ” the upper stage of the Chang’e 5 mission fell into the Earth’s atmosphere”, and would thus “completely burned “. The examination of the crater by the NASA probe could finally provide a definitive answer to the mystery.