Three thousand kilograms of space junk has crashed into the Moon

Three thousand kilograms of space junk has just crashed into the moon at frightening speeds of 9,334 kilometres per hour as per calculations. 

It’s is said that the crash will send moon dust and flying rock into space. 

Sadly, telescopes will not be able to see the new crater, so it would be months before any confirmation can be made on the size of the impact left on the face of the moon using satellite images.

It was initially reported that the gigantic piece of waste was a leftover rocket from Elon Musk’s SpaceX program, however, experts suspect there might be another reason behind it.

Hasan Al Hariri — CEO of Dubai Astronomy Group shared his thoughts on the space junk, “The problem is that today we are witnessing huge development in satellites, size and volume and functionality also. The advancement of science and communication as well Starlink, that is crucial for the development of the internet across the globe while beneficial can have issues.”

He added that recently NASA had announced they had concerns about Starlink and that going forward they would collaborate more to ensure avoid such incidents during a mission or when they are launched. This would also help keep critical satellites in the sky stay safe, he explained. 

He also said that alliances asides understanding and implementing safety measures as well as protocols would help in avoiding accidents.   

Astronomer Bill Gray initially thought the space junk was the upper stage of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.

But he now reckons the object is a Chang’e 5-T1 booster, which would belong to the third stage of a Chinese rocket that sent a test sample capsule to the moon back in 2014.

Source: Agencies