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 Andar de foguetão chinês vai despenhar-se na Lua infographic
A infografia mostra os detalhes da colisão.
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ESPAÇO

Foguetão que vai cilidir com a Lua é chinês, não da SpaceX

By Jordi Bou

March 4, 2022 - Um foguetão chinês abandonado – inicialmente mal identificado como um propulsor da SpaceX – está em rota de colisão com a Lua, primeira
vez que uma peça de “lixo espacial” atinge a superfície lunar.

Bill Gray, an astronomer and the developer of the asteroid tracking software Project Pluto, initially identified the errant space junk as the upper stage of a Falcon 9 rocket.

But after reassessing the data, Gray believes that the booster for the rocket stage of a Long March 3C rocket is the object set to to smash into the moon traveling at roughly 9,288km/h on March 4.

The Chinese Chang’e 5-T1 mission launched in October 2014 on a Long March 3C rocket. The launch time and lunar trajectory are almost an exact match for the orbit of the object that will hit the Moon in March.

Gray says the rocket would hit the moon in the 520km-wide Hertzsprung crater, on the far side of the moon, at a velocity of 9,288km/hr.

Observation of the subsurface material ejected by the collision could provide valuable scientific data.

Sources
PUBLISHED: 15/02/2022; STORY: Graphic News; PICTURES: NASA
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