A rocket launched by SpaceX that carried two lunar landers crashed into the moon as expected on Wednesday after veering off course for the past year, scientists confirmed.
Although the high-speed collision at 8,700 km/h was not directly witnessed, a telescope in Chile captured what astronomers have determined to be the debris plume resulting from the impact. Space tracking experts stated that it was inevitable for the remaining rocket segment to collide with the moon.
This incident highlights the ongoing issue of space debris on the moon, a concern that could escalate as the United States and China compete to send astronauts to the lunar surface. In 2022, a Chinese rocket unintentionally struck the moon after a lunar mission, and over the decades, numerous stray rocket components likely impacted the moon without detection by scientists.
Julianna Scheiman from SpaceX mentioned that the company is collaborating with NASA to prevent similar accidents in the future, emphasizing that this particular crash was not intentional. She explained that a combination of solar activity and gravitational forces inadvertently set the rocket on a collision path with the moon.
A stray piece of a SpaceX rocket launched last year likely smashed into the moon at high speed early Wednesday morning, according to scientists. University of Montreal astrophysicist Nathalie Ouellette explains what researchers can learn from the impact and why commercial space companies need to responsibly manage post-mission debris.
‘100 per cent certain’
Carl Schmidt from Boston University expressed full confidence in his team’s findings indicating the lunar impact. The European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope detected a trail of sodium and lithium extending tens of kilometers into space for at least five to 10 minutes after the collision, he reported.
“Although we lack visual images of the impact, there is telescope-based evidence,” Schmidt stated in an email.
