NASA has revealed images of a massive crater that was left by a ‘mystery rocket’ that smashed into the moon in March.
Newly-released photos were taken by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), NASA’s robotic spacecraft currently orbiting the moon, on May 25.
They show a surprising ‘double crater’ roughly 92 feet (28 metres) wide near Hertzsprung crater on the moon’s far side.
A US researcher discovered the rocket body hurtling towards the moon in January before it smashed into the moon on March 4, but its identity is still unknown.
It’s said to be a spent rocket booster from a launch that happened years ago, but neither China nor the US will claim responsibly for it.
Can you see where the rocket smashed into the moon? The impact crater was created by a mysterious rocket booster in March is spotted by NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter
The rocket body impacted the lunar surface on March 4, 2022 near Hertzsprung crater, creating a ‘double crater’ roughly 92 feet (28 metres) wide in the longest dimension
A surprising ‘double crater’ roughly 92 feet (28 metres) wide was created near Hertzsprung crater on the moon’s far side. The new crater is not visible in this view, but its location is indicated by the white arrow. LROC WAC mosaic, 110 kilometers width.
Back in January prior to impact, Gray thought the object was the booster from a SpaceX rocket launch in February 2015, which sent a weather and Earth observation satellite named DSCOVR into orbit for NASA.
However, NASA said its analysis showed that the object was likely the booster rocket from China’s Chang’e 5-T1 mission launched in October 2014 from Xichang Satellite Launch Center, Xichang, China.
This was denied by a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman, who said China’s aerospace endeavours are ‘always in keeping with international law’.
China launched the uncrewed Chang’e 5-T1 spacecraft to the moon on a Long March 3C rocket, a three-stage Chinese rocket with two strap-on liquid rocket boosters.
The images taken by the LRO (pictured) were snapped in mid-August, but were only released recently
The objective of the mission was to test the ability of the spacecraft’s capsule to re-enter Earth’s atmosphere.
The capsule landed back on Earth that same month, but it’s been thought by the US authorities that the booster rocket had been floating through space for more than seven years before heading towards the moon.
Regardless of its identity, the collision course has re-ignited discussion about space debris and who is legally responsible for tracking space junk floating outside the Earth’s atmosphere.
According to NASA, there are about 23,000 pieces of debris larger than a softball orbiting the Earth.
In 2021, an expert at the European Commission warned that unwanted debris left by humans in low-Earth orbit have become the equivalent of a ‘new drifting island of plastic’.