[아하! 우주] An unwanted space rocket falls on the far side of the moon on the fourth day…Nationality is a mystery

About 3 tons of space debris is known to crash into the far side of the moon at around 9:25 PM KST on the fourth day. On this day, foreign media such as AFP reported that rocket debris turned into space debris fell at a speed of 9300 km / h into the crater of Herzsprung on the far side of the moon, forming a crater with a diameter of 10-20 meters. .

This space junk, known from several previous reports, is part of a rocket that has been launched into space in the past. After launch, it ran out of fuel, drifted according to the gravity of the Earth, Moon and Sun, then collided with the Moon and met its end. As a result, this is the first time in history that humans have hit the moon, and the impact on an already cratered moon is minimal.

However, this space debris has fallen on the far side of the Moon and cannot be directly observed from Earth. In particular, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) and Indian Chandrayaan 2 were located in various places and failed to capture the historical event. For this reason, no one has yet been able to provide any “photographic evidence” except for the hypothesis that space debris has collided with the Moon. However, it is expected that the LRO will be able to detect impact traces by monitoring the impact point.

In particular, the “nationality” of this unwanted space, which has been another concern, is expected to remain a mystery forever. Originally, American astronomer Dr. Bill Gray announced that the rocket was part of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched from Florida in 2015. Earth, the rocket itself ran out of fuel and became space debris.

However, said Dr. Gray later reanalyzed the data and corrected that it was not a Falcon 9 missile, but a booster for the Chinese Chang’e-5-T1 missile launched in 2014. In particular, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) claimed to have identified parts of the missile The Chinese .. in the light reflected from the painting while looking at space debris through a telescope. At this news, even the Chinese Foreign Ministry was furious.

“The United States claims that these space debris from China are incorrect,” said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Wang Wenbin.

Written by Park Jong-ik, Team Reporter [email protected]