Scientists determine why an unexpected double crater resulted from a spacecraft crashing on the far side of the Moon in 2022.
Scientists determine why an unexpected double crater resulted from the 2022 crash of a spacecraft on the far side of the moon.Scientists believe the craters resulted from a crash of a booster from a Chinese rocket.On March 4, 2022, a rocket smashed into the far side of the Moon — an event not in itself unusual, as a number of space vehicles from different nations have crashed into our celestial companion.
But by studying the object’s light reflection signature and its path through space, the scientists concluded that it was much more likely a booster from the Chang’e 5-T1. Part of the Chinese Space Agency’s lunar program, it was launched in 2014. “As the object is spinning, we see variations in the right light it reflects as the visible surface area is changing,” shared Vishnu Reddy, one of the paper’s co-authors and a University of Arizona professor of planetary science at the. “When the broad side of the rocket is pointed at you, you get more light, and as it turns, you get less light from that side,” he added.
To understand this part of the mystery, scientists compared computer simulations of thousands of potential objects that could be found traversing space to the light curve data. They discovered that WE0913A wasn’t behaving in an expected manner. There was also crucial evidence visible at the impact site. Seeing two craters from a rocket crash is unusual.
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