3 tons of space junk is about to collide with the moon, which would create a huge crater on the surface of the astronomical body.
The remnants of a rocket are expected to smash into the dark side of the moon at 9,300 kilometers per hour on Friday. It may take several weeks or even months to confirm the impact of the impact through satellite images, as it is difficult for observatories (telescopes) to detect it.
Experts believe the remnants of the rocket have been rolling randomly through space since China launched it nearly a decade ago. But Chinese officials doubt it’s theirs.
Regardless of its nickname, scientists expect that the waste may cause a crater 10 to 20 meters wide, and the emission of lunar dust flying for several kilometers across the arid, blistered surface.
SpaceX was the first to spot debris heading to the moon after the asteroid tracker Bill Gray identified the collision path in January.
Gray corrected his information a month later, saying that the “mysterious” object was not the upper stage of a SpaceX “Falcon” rocket that was launched from NASA’s Deep Space Climate Observatory in 2015.
Gray said it was likely the third stage of a Chinese rocket that carried a sample capsule to the moon and returned in 2014.
However, Chinese officials said that the upper stage of the missile re-entered Earth’s atmosphere and burned up.