A rocket hit the Moon on March 4, creating a double crater about 91 feet wide.
NASA / GSFC / Arizona State University
Although we think of the moon as a static place, sometimes an event happens that reminds us that things can change quickly.
On March 4, a man-made object (a rocket stage) crashed into the Moon and left behind a double crater, as seen by NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) mission.
Officials announced on June 23 that they detected a double crater associated with the event. But what’s really interesting is that there’s no consensus on what kind of rocket caused it.
China has denied claims that the rocket was part of a long March 3 rocket launched by the country’s Chang’e-5 T1 mission in October 2014, even though the orbit appeared to coincide. Previous speculation suggested it could be a SpaceX rocket that launched the DISCOVR mission, but more recent analysis has discredited it primarily.
Here’s the look of the March 4 rocket crash site from a broader field of view.
NASA / GSFC / Arizona State University
On a larger scale, the value of LRO observations like this shows how the moon can change even in a small period of time. The spacecraft has been in orbit there since 2009 and has detected numerous new craters since its arrival.
He is also a great spaceship explorer, having hunted down the Apollo landing sites from orbit and also tracking some craters from other missions that collided with the Moon from the orbit. dawn of space exploration.
Humans may return to the moon for a closer look over the next decade, as NASA is developing an Artemis program to send people to the surface no earlier than 2025.
LRO will also be a valuable explorer for this set of missions, as spacecraft maps will be used to develop plans for lunar bases or to help explore safe landing sites for astronauts.