SpaceX's rocket debris might hit the Moon; India's Chandrayaan orbiter possibly at risk

A debris piece from SpaceX's seven-year-old rocket is on a collision course with the Moon and is likely to hit the lunar surface in March. The debris is said to be the Falcon 9 rocket's second stage, which was launched under SpaceX's first-ever planetary mission in 2015. A report by Ars Technica explains that when the second stage rocket booster launched NOAA's Deep Space Climate Observatory to the Lagrange point, it went far way beyond the Earth's atmosphere and did not have enough fuel to return. Moreover, its inability to escape the gravity of the Earth and the Moon sent it an uncontrolled trajectory and it has been drifting chaotically for the last seven years. 

India's Chandrayaan orbiter faces collision threat

According to the space observers, the rocket piece is about 4 metric tons and is likely to strike the lunar surface at 2.58 km/s velocity. Bill Gray, who tracks near-Earth objects, asteroids, minor planets, and comets revealed in his blog that the booster stage made a close flyby of the Moon on January 5 and is likely to hit the lunar surface on March 4. "This is the first unintentional case (of space debris striking the moon) of which I am aware", Gray said in his blog as per The Guardian. The expert said that although there will be little effect of sunlight on the rocket's path, it might accumulate to make a noticeable change, and thus further monitoring is required.

Besides, India's Chandrayaan-2 orbiter and NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter that are currently orbiting the Moon also face a threat as the debris might end up colliding with them. However, an astrophysicist from Harvard University, Jonathan McDowell, has claimed that the rocket moving towards the Moon is not a big deal. "For those asking: yes, an old Falcon 9 second stage left in high orbit in 2015 is going to hit the moon on March 4. It's interesting, but not a big deal", McDowell wrote.

Image: Twitter/@ElonMusk