I was a part of the LCROSS mission, and it was a smashing success. If you are a fan of space, you may have experienced some déjà vu reading that description – NASA performed a similar experiment in 2009 when it intentionally crashed the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite, or LCROSS, into a permanently shadowed crater near the lunar south pole. Virtually nothing will remain of the ill-fated rocket. Over the course of several minutes, the ejected material will rain back down to the surface around the now-smoldering crater. A cloud of vaporized rock and metal will expand from the impact point as dust, and sand-sized particles are thrown skyward. The compression of the impact will heat up the dust and rocks and generate a white-hot flash that would be visible from space if there happened to be a craft in the area at the time. ![]() Within milliseconds, the back end of the rocket hull will be obliterated with bits of metal exploding in all directions.The rocket is expected to crash into the vast barren plain within the giant Hertzsprung crater, just over the horizon on the far side of the moon from Earth.Ī twin shock wave will travel downward into the powdery top layer of the Moon’s surface called the regolith. AAxanderr via WikimediaCommonsĪn instant after the rocket touches the lunar surface, a shock wave will travel up the length of the projectile at several miles per second. ![]() The booster may be from a Chinese Long March rocket – similar to the one seen here – launched in 2015. Evidence suggests that it is likely either a SpaceX rocket launched in 2015 or a Chinese rocket launched in 2014, but both parties have denied ownership. It is roughly 40 feet (12 meters) long and weighs nearly 10,000 pounds (4,500 kilograms). ![]() Astronomers know that the object is an upper stage booster discarded from a high-altitude satellite launch. There has been some debate over the exact identity of the tumbling object currently on a collision course with the Moon.
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