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What do we know about the newest crater on the moon?

What do we know about the newest crater on the moon?

  • A leftover piece of a spacecraft flying through space reportedly hit the surface of the moon, creating a new crater that may be around 65 feet wide.
  • The piece of space junk was later said to be the third-stage booster of Chang'e 5-T1 – a lunar mission launched by the China National Space Administration in 2014.

About

  • China denied responsibility, saying that the booster in question had safely entered the earth's atmosphere and was completely incinerated
  • According to orbital calculations, the collision took place on the far side of the moon.
  • The object reportedly weighs around four tonnes and was racing towards the moon at a speed of 9,300 km an hour.
  • The speed, trajectory, and time of impact were calculated using earth-based telescope observations.

How was the object spotted in space?

  • American astronomer Bill Gray was the first to predict the collision.
  • He said that a booster from a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket was likely to hit the moon after seven years of floating in space.
  • Later corrected his prediction, saying that the space junk was part of a Chinese lunar mission and not from SpaceX.
  • Gray runs Project Pluto, a blog that tracks near-earth objects.
  • Project Pluto also supplies astronomical software to amateur and professional astronomers.
  • Gray is the creator of popular astronomy software called Guide.
  • Astronomer explained the process of ascertaining the date and time of the collision in a blog post on Project Pluto.
  • The astronomer has also said that this is the first recorded unintentional case of space junk hitting the moon.

How will the impact be confirmed?

  • NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and ISRO’s Chandrayaan-2 orbiter are two active lunar missions that are capable of observing the crater and picturing it.
  • The location of the impact on the far side of the moon has made it difficult for the crater to be pictured and studied immediately.

Is the crater permanent?

  • Both the earth and the moon have been hit by multiple objects like asteroids throughout their existence, but craters on the moon are of a more permanent nature than those on earth.
  • This is because of processes like erosion, tectonics, and volcanism.
  • According to NASA, these three processes keep the surface of the earth crater-free and remove traces of collisions that have happened in the past.
  • Currently, the earth has less than 200 known craters while the moon has thousands.
  • An absence of atmosphere means there is no wind system and no weather on the moon, and hence no cause for erosion of existing craters.
  • Absence of tectonics prevents the moon’s surface from forming new rocks, or causing a shift in the existing surface patterns, unlike that on earth.
  • Lastly, absence of volcanism makes it impossible for craters to be covered.

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