Out-of-control SpaceX rocket on collision course with the moon

[Eldorado]

The booster was originally launched from Florida in February 2015 as part of an interplanetary mission to send a space weather satellite on a million-mile journey.

But after completing a long burn of its engines and sending the NOAA’s Deep Space Climate Observatory on its way to the so-called Lagrange point – a gravity-neutral position four times further than the moon and in direct line with the sun – the rocket’s second stage became derelict.

At this stage it was high enough that it did not have enough fuel to return to Earth’s atmosphere but also “lacked the energy to escape the gravity of the Earth-Moon system”, meteorologist Eric Berger explained in a recent post on Ars Technica.

MSN

[Jon the frog]

38 minutes ago, Eldorado said:

The booster was originally launched from Florida in February 2015 as part of an interplanetary mission to send a space weather satellite on a million-mile journey.

But after completing a long burn of its engines and sending the NOAA’s Deep Space Climate Observatory on its way to the so-called Lagrange point – a gravity-neutral position four times further than the moon and in direct line with the sun – the rocket’s second stage became derelict.

At this stage it was high enough that it did not have enough fuel to return to Earth’s atmosphere but also “lacked the energy to escape the gravity of the Earth-Moon system”, meteorologist Eric Berger explained in a recent post on Ars Technica.

MSN

Sad that it will probably not fall on the visible side ! 

Edited January 26, 2022 by Jon the frog

[acute]

I love all the stories about the SpaceXploding Rockets, but I've moved my Austin Allegro just in case.

[jethrofloyd]

A poor Moon

[+and-then]

Several of the 3rd stage boosters from the Apollo moon missions were intentionally crashed into the lunar surface to test seismometers.

https://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/32842/what-happened-to-apollos-saturn-third-stage-rockets

https://www.space.com/31503-apollo-16-moon-rocket-crash-site-photo.html

[Poncho_Peanatus]

So in other words, Space X will succesfully land on the moon before NASA. m'kay

[+and-then]

On 2/5/2022 at 1:45 AM, Poncho_Peanatus said:

So in other words, Space X will succesfully land on the moon before NASA. m'kay

Impact?  Oh yeah.  Land?  Not so much 

[Poncho_Peanatus]

15 hours ago, and then said:

Impact?  Oh yeah.  Land?  Not so much 

just a matter of definitions 

[Hyperionxvii]

Oh noes. We will all be living on the side of cliffs in pods soon, they're going to break the moon!

[AnthonyS]

Nice.

[Eldorado]

A wayward rocket stage is poised to bombard the moon on Friday (March 4), and the coming impact has earned some scientific attention.

Reportedly, the Goldstone Solar System Radar near Barstow, California, is set to observe the object a few days before impact. And NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) will look for changes in the moon's exosphere — a very thin layer of gases — due to the crash and then later scan the lunar surface for the impact crater itself.

The rocket stage is on track to slam into Hertzsprung Crater on the far side of the moon on Friday at 7:25 a.m. EST (1225 GMT). The impact will mark the first time a piece of space junk accidentally smacks into the lunar surface, experts say. (This doesn't count the spacecraft that have crashed while attempting to land on the moon, or rocket bodies intentionally steered into Earth's nearest neighbor.)

MSN

[+DieChecker]

I read it crashed on the far side, so no pics of the impact.

We should put a satellite that orbits the Moon to observe such phenomena. 

With some luck it hit the Iron Sky nazi base.

[BeerDevil]

I seem to remember the last time something like this happened to the moon it