ESPAÇO
Foguetão SpaceX em rota de colisão com a Lua
March 4, 2022 -
Um foguetão SpaceX descartado está em rota de colisão com a Lua,
talvez a primeira vez que uma peça de “lixo espacial” se depenhará não intencionalmente na superfície da Lua.
On February 11, 2015. the Falcon 9 rocket launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, carrying the Deep Space Climate Observatory satellite on SpaceX’s first deep space mission.
After completing its long burn and sending the satellite on into space, the second stage booster did not have enough fuel to return to Earth and it tumbled around in chaotic orbit for seven years.
According to Bill Gray, who writes the widely used Project Pluto software to track near-Earth objects, asteroids, minor planets, and comets, the booster is expected to impact the far side of moon near equator, at a velocity of around 2.58km/s.
Observation of the subsurface material ejected by the collision could provide valuable scientific data.