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.