Moon wakes up to a morning surprise on March 4, 2022; here's what happened

Could parts of rocket or space junk crashing into the Moon become a regular affair in the days and years to come? Well the question has gained prominence after the events of March 4. In probably the first known event of its kind, a component from a rogue rocket collided with the moon creating a huge crater and leaving a cloud of dust that lasted many hours on March 4 at approximately 7:25 a.m. ET. However, it was not apparent to the naked eye. Space scientists are of the view that this problem could get worse going forward. Many said that the discarded component belonged to a Chinese rocket, however, China denied the rocket belonged to it.

Lunar orbiters missed the rocket's descent when it collided with the moon's far side. National Geographic reports the site of the rocket's crash as Hertzsprung crater, a 350-mile wide crater on the moon's far side.


Although the impact area is invisible to Earth's observatories, astronomers estimate the impact must have left a 65-foot-wide crater, judging from the rocket's size and its speed of travel (5,800 miles per hour),

As per a Nasa spokesperson, Nasa plans to use its Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter's cameras to try and pinpoint the impact location and assess any potential changes the rocket's collision has brought to the moon's environment. However, he has also added that finding the crash site could take long.

The incident marks the first instance any human-made object has made a non-deliberate collision with the moon. Previously, space organizations have crashed their discarded spacecraft into the moon to destroy them and study how it impacts the lunar surface.

The origin of the rogue rocket has remained a mystery. Initially, it was believed to be part of Elon Musk's SpaceX trip, but later reports suggested the missile may be from China's 2014 mission, Chang'e 5-T1.

During his first analysis, astronomer Bill Gray, the first observer of this collision course, had incorrectly identified the debris as 2015-007B (the DSCOVR spacecraft's second stage) but now claims strong evidence to confirm the debris indeed belongs to Chang'e 5-T1 lunar mission's rocket.

However, Wang Wenbin, a spokesperson for China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, informed that China's monitoring of Chang'e 5-T1 confirms the upper stage of the Chang'e-5 mission rocket fell safely through Earth's atmosphere and got entirely burned up, a statement the US Space Command is skeptical about.