Much Ado About Space Junk

🚀🌝 Three tons of space debris is set to crash into the dark side of the moon at ~7:25 am ET this morning. It’s believed to be the first time a man-made spacecraft has unintentionally hit the moon.

• The astronomer who discovered the moon-bound space junk initially thought it was a SpaceX Falcon rocket launched in 2015.
• But, after a month of observation, he said the object was likely a Chinese rocket that sent a test sample capsule to the moon and back in 2014. Both SpaceX and China have denied responsibility for the craft.
• Traveling at 5,800 MPH, the leftover rocket is expected to carve out a crater 33 to 66 feet in diameter, sending moon dust flying hundreds of miles in every direction.
• Given its projected impact location, telescopes on Earth and in space will be unable to witness the crash. It could take weeks – or even months – to confirm its location using satellites orbiting the moon.

🛰️ Zoom out: For now, space junk isn’t a huge concern for the moon. But it’s a growing problem closer to home.

Around 5,100 of the 12,000+ Earth-orbiting satellites launched since 1957 are still operational, per the European Space Agency. There are an estimated 20,000+ pieces of debris four inches or longer currently orbiting the Earth at speeds of up to 17,500 MPH.

+In the know: Since the moon has no atmosphere and effectively no weather, the crater resulting from the rocket's impact will be permanently imprinted on its surface.