SpaceX rocket part to crash into Moon after 7 years of 'chaotic orbit'; Here's why

A SpaceX Rocket that is orbiting the Earth for seven years is expected to hit the moon on March 4. The upper part of the errant Falcon 9 detached from the rocket in 2015 and is now on a collision course with the moon, space experts said. As per recent updates, the hunk of the rocket has already 'made a close lunar flyby on January 5,' a data analyst, blogger, and software creator to track near-Earth objects, asteroids, minor planets, and comets, Bill Gray wrote in his blog post.

The part of the rocket weighs over 4 metric tons and is predicted to make a visible dent on the moon, The Guardian reported. The impact is expected to occur a couple of days after New Moon. According to a Newsweek report, the rocket is a part of SpaceX's interplanetary program started by Elon Musk to send a weather satellite on a million-mile journey, launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida in February 2015.

[Falcon9 launches 105 spacecraft to orbit on Jan 14, 2022. IMAGE: @SpaceX/Twitter]

Why will 7-yr-old SpaceX rocket crash on Moon?

The Falcon 9 rocket completed its long burn of engines after sending the NOAA's Deep Space Climate Observatory on its deputed path to the Lagrange point (locations where the gravitational forces of 2 massive objects — such as the Sun and Earth — are in equilibrium). However, at the second stage, the rocket became derelict as it did not have enough fuel to return to Earth's atmosphere. Again, it also lost its energy to "escape the gravity of the Earth-Moon system," Eric Berger, a meteorologist told Ars Technica. "So it's been following somewhat chaotic orbit since February 2015," he noted.

[IMAGE: IMAGE: @SpaceX/Twitter]

The 4 metric tons rocket part is moving at a velocity of 2.58km/hr and will crash with the moon in a matter of weeks. According to experts, the Falcon 9 is now a part of "space junk" to be the first "unintentional" case to hit the moon.

Meanwhile, Gray is certain of an impact on March 4. "This the first unintentional case of space junk hitting the moon of which I am aware," he said. The exact spot of the rocket is currently unclear due to the reflection of sunlight, which is causing "ambiguity in measuring rotation periods." Saying that further observations will be needed to ascertain refined details about the tentative location of impact, Gray informed, "These unpredictable effects are every small but they will accumulate between now and March 4." But, sadly, for space lovers and stargazers, the collision will go unobserved from Earth as "the bulk of the moon will be in the way," Gray wrote in his blog post.

(Image: @SpaceX/Twitter)