Amateur astrologers first pointed the finger at SpaceX, but then recalculated that it was likely to be from a 2014 Chinese lunar mission (Chang’e 5-T1). China has responded, saying the propellant in question had “safely entered the Earth’s atmosphere and was completely incinerated.”
Bill Gray, a freelance astronomer who created software that tracks objects in space, had to work backwards and calculate an approximate orbit, because although China announces and televises its launches, it does not reveal its routes.
“I’m 99.9 percent sure it’s the China 5-T1,” he told the BBC. I had previously thought it was a SpaceX booster.
Astronauts’ feces in zippered bags left on the moon
There are hundreds of pieces of debris on the surface of the Moon, as well as lunar scarecrows and even astronauts ’excrement in zippered bags.
Apollo mission rocket launchers left a series of craters about 40 meters wide on the Moon’s surface, while in 2019, Israel’s Beresheet spacecraft scattered debris on the lunar surface. .
At least 47 NASA rocket bodies have created “spacecraft impacts” on the Moon, according to 2016 data from Arizona State University.
However, “No other impact of the rocket body on the Moon created double craters,” NASA said.
Japan, South Korea, Russia, India and the United Arab Emirates aim to send missions to the moon next year, while the United States plans to land the first woman there in 2024.