After seven years adrift in outer space, a SpaceX rocket is on a collision course with the Moon, so the four-metric ton object is expected to have an impact with the natural satellite on March 4 as it advances at a speed of 2.58 kilometers per second.
The rocket was launched into space in February 2015, from Florida, United States, its objective was the sending of the Deep Space Climate Observatory of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa) that monitors solar winds.
When fulfilling its mission and leaving the observatory at its destination, the second stage of the Falcon 9 rocket completed the burning in its propellants, due to this it remained in a very high position which made it impossible to return to the Earth’s atmosphere and without enough energy to escape the gravity of the planet and the Moon being adrift in space.
The shock will not be visible from earth, the rocket is expected to impact the dark side of the moon, it is estimated that it will leave a crater up to 20 meters wide, a fact that will be confirmed by NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) which will pass through the area after the crash, as well as Chandrayaan-2, a similar device from India’s space agency.
It is planned that to take advantage of the event scientists will obtain additional data on the Moon by analyzing the material from the lunar subsurface that will be ejected by the impact of the rocket.
This fact has relevance because it will be the first time that an object of space debris accidentally reaches the Moon.
It will not be the first time that an object launched from the earth is impacted against the natural satellite, in 2009 NASA sent a projectile to crash into the Moon with the aim of lifting a column of debris and identifying the materials that made up the ground.