Elon Musk’s SpaceX rocket is about to collide with the moon. It will mark the first time ever that humans have caused an unintentional collision with the moon.
Musk’s rocket has been hurdling around space for about seven years on what is being described as a “chaotic” orbit. The rocket, Falcon 9 booster, launched in 2015 from Florida as part of an interplanetary mission meant to send a space weather satellite on a journey of a million miles.
But soon the rocket’s second stage became derelict. It was high enough into orbit that it did not have the amount of fuel necessary to return into Earth’s atmosphere. It also lacked the ability to escape the gravity of the Earth-Moon system. So since 2015, the rocket’s actually been chaotically orbiting around.
Experts and space observers believe that soon Musk’s rocket will intersect with the moon in a matter of weeks. The rocket, described as four metric tonnes of “space junk,” is on the collision course and will hit the moon at a velocity of approximately 2.58km/s.
March 4 is the anticipated collision date. Experts say that Falcon 9’s upper stage will hit the far side of the moon, near the moon’s equator. The exact spot remains unclear.
If you are hoping to view it from Earth, you likely will not be able to. Experts said that the collision will probably go unobserved, as the bulk of the moon will be in the way.
SpaceX, or the Space Exploration Technologies Corporation, was founded by billionaire Musk in 2002. Musk and his companies are no strangers to controversy.
At the very end of 2021, Musk announced as a part of SpaceX that he plans to launch 42,000 satellites into space, resulting in widespread criticism that his company is literally taking up too much space. He has been launching rockets into space unregulated so quickly, that there are mass calls for global regulation of space.
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