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What happened to the moon on March 4th? Rocket collision explained

Scientists had predicted a possible rocket collision on the moon on March 4th, 2022.

Although there have been crashes during landings in the past, experts noted that for the first time ever, a rocket stage was set to slam into the surface of the moon.

Here’s what exactly happened!

(Original Caption) Space center, Houston: this is the expended Saturn IV B stage as photographed by Apollo 7 Astronauts shortly after they separated from the booster that helped send then into orbit. the panels are a part of the space craft Lunar Module Adapter that will house the vehicle that will land men on the moon during later missions. (Photo by © Bettmann/CORBIS/Bettmann Archive)
Photo by © Bettmann/CORBIS/Bettmann Archive

Rocket part collides with the moon

As predicted, on March 4th, the first piece of space junk was spotted on a lunar collision course, according to National Geographic.

A new crater was seen carved on the surface of the moon by the rocket part when the collision occurred at around 7:25 a.m. ET.

The crash wasn’t visible to humans, but the “rogue rocket” is said to have created a plume of dust into the orbit that may have lingered “for hours”.

Lunar orbiters couldn’t see the rocket come down after it smashed into the moon on its far side.

What happened on March 4th isn’t a “big deal”

Astronomer Jonathan McDowell of the Harvard-Smithsonian Institute of Astrophysics has said the damage caused by the collision isn’t a concern at all.

“It’s not a big deal at the current level of occupation of the moon, which is currently population: robots, a couple of dozen; humans, zero. And maybe alien mutants grown from the human poop left there,” he said.

However, space lawyer Michelle Hanlon of the University of Mississippi believes our actions in space should be dealt with more “responsibly”.

“That means making sure we do the right things—we figure out where our rockets are going and make sure we don’t just start throwing stuff on the moon for the heck of it,” she said.

Origin of the rocket isn’t confirmed

Early observations suggested that the rocket stage could belong to China’s Chang’e 5-T1 mission, which was launched in late 2014.

However, The U.S. Space Command later confirmed that the Chinese rocket body “never de-orbited”. “We cannot confirm the country of origin of the rocket body that may impact the moon,” they said.

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