The top of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will crash into the far part of the Moon in March. While that sounds bad, it might not actually be a bad thing. Normally, space junk hitting something is cause for concern, and no one says it’s a good thing to send a bunch of space junk to another world. However, it is thought that this impact could help scientists learn something about the Moon.
The part of the Falcon 9 rocket that will crash into the Moon comes from the rocket that took a NOAA satellite into Earth orbit on February 11, 2015. Most upper-tier rocket segments have enough fuel to return to Earth (where they burn in the Earth’s atmosphere), or take themselves into an orbit to crash into the Sun, so they do not pose a threat to low-Earth orbiting spacecraft or satellites.
But this SpaceX rocket didn’t have enough fuel for both, so it has since orbited and lost control under the combined influence of Earth and Moon’s gravity. Now, it’s starting to go towards the Moon.
Although this impact will not be visible from Earth, there are several satellites orbiting the Moon. NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and India’s Chandrayaan-2 satellites will be able to observe the crater the rocket will leave behind after it hits the Moon. The impact, with the impact of about three tons of TNT, will lift some material on the lunar surface, allowing us to take a brief look below the lunar surface. Scientists think that with this information, they can examine the infrastructure of the lunar ground.
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