SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket is on a crash course into Moon this week. Heres why

SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket is on a crash course into Moon this week. Heres why | Tentagraph | Tentagraph

As per a recent study about the upcoming impact of the rocket published on the arXiv digital repository, the 4,000-kg rocket body “was abandoned in a moon-crossing high-Earth orbit”. Julianna Scheiman, director of Nasa satellite missions at SpaceX, stated on Monday at a press conference about the company’s Crew-13 astronaut launch to the International Space Station, which is scheduled for September 12, that SpaceX carried out “a different manoeuvre [than deorbiting] to ensure that the second stage itself is safe per the appropriate rules and regulations”. The safety manoeuvre did not actually move the rocket to a safer location, yet the natural force acted on the rocket and changed its path, leading the trajectory to a crash.Story continues below this ad Scheiman said, “What has happened is, essentially, a mixture of solar activity and gravity forces has put it on a path towards the Moon.” Why are scientists intrigued to see the rocket crash? Astronomers and lunar scientists are awaiting the upcoming lunar impact, even though it is expected to occur on the Moon’s sunlit side, making it difficult for most observers on Earth to witness. However, researchers say powerful telescopes may still be able to detect the plume of debris, or ejecta, thrown up by the collision. The event is expected to provide valuable scientific data, helping researchers refine techniques for measuring impact flashes, locating impact sites using seismic data, and improving understanding of the risks that space debris poses to future lunar missions. “The event provides an opportunity to test pipelines for measuring flash properties to locate impact events seismically and to better understand the multimodal hazards posed to future lunar infrastructure and astronauts from space debris impacting the moon,” Fernando and his colleagues wrote in their study. Those risks could soon become a practical concern rather than a theoretical one. Nasa plans to establish a sustained human presence near the Moon’s south pole through its Artemis programme over the next decade.Story continues below this ad

SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket is on a crash course into Moon this week. Heres why