A piece of a SpaceX rocket crashed into the Moon at breakneck speed
A section of the Falcon 9 launch vehicle belonging to SpaceX, the company founded by Elon Musk, struck the Moon’s surface on the morning of August 5. According to the Daily Mail, the impact occurred at a speed of approximately 8,690 km/h.
It is noted that the part of the rocket that went out of control is the upper stage of the Falcon 9 launch vehicle, weighing 4,500 kg and measuring 12 m in length, which is roughly equivalent to the height of a five-story building.
According to the publication, the rocket crashed into the Moon’s surface near the Einstein Crater, located on the western edge of Earth’s natural satellite.
Scientists have calculated that the impact caused an explosion equivalent to 15,000 sticks of dynamite or three metric tons of TNT.
Such an event could have been seen from Earth through a telescope, but not with the naked eye.
It is reported that, due to the lack of an atmosphere and low gravity, the impact likely raised a cloud of dust and debris that could have remained above the Moon’s surface for tens of minutes.
Astronomers estimate that the collision created a new crater on the Moon’s surface approximately 27 meters in diameter and about five meters deep.
It is noted that SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket was launched from a U.S. spaceport in Florida in January of last year.
It placed two private lunar landers—Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost and ispace’s Resilience—into orbit and was not intended to collide with the Moon.
After completing its mission and delivering the landers, the upper stage remained drifting in space under the influence of the Moon’s gravity.
This was reported by the Daily Mail.
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