Next calendar week , the upper point of a roquette will thrash into the Moon . That much is certain . The rest of the particular in this saga are less clear - cut . First believed to be a SpaceX rocket fragment , the blank space junk was afterward distinguish as part of a Formosan projectile , from the pathfinder missionChang’e-5 T1 , something which China denies .
“ According to China ’s monitoring , the upper stage of the Chang’e-5 commission rocket has fall through the Earth ’s atmosphere in a safe manner and burn up completely . China ’s aerospace endeavors are always in keep with outside law . We are committed to in earnest safeguarding the long - term sustainability of outer space action and are ready to have extensive telephone exchange and cooperation with all side , ” Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Wang Wenbin said during apress group discussion .
Now , Wang Wenbin is correct in saying that the upper stage ofthe Chang’e-5rocket burned into the Pacific in 2020 . That is the mission that land on the Moon , collect sample ( the first in over 40 year ) , and came back to Earth . However , it is the upper stage of the Chang’e-5 T-1 mission – a different mission launch in 2014 to test the technology then used in the Chang’e-5 mission – which may be on a collision course with the moon , accordingto stargazer Bill Gray , who has been tracking the Moon - bound rocket .
While it would be very unmanageable to substantiate without any doubt that this is indeed the Formosan rocket salad , there is independent evidence beyond Gray ’s orbital computation . A team from the University of Arizona has do observations that match that the aim lead for the Moon face like a Chinese rocket .
" We took a spectrum ( which can reveal the substantial makeup of an object ) and compared it with Chinese and SpaceX rockets of similar type , and it mate the Formosan rocket , " associate prof Vishnu Reddy , who carbon monoxide gas - leads the Space Domain Awareness science lab , said in astatement . " This is the best match , and we have the best potential evidence at this point . "
High orbiting space junk is not get over by any space agencies , which is why there is so much uncertainty when it come to who a rocket might belong to to . For example , it is unidentified where the SpaceX projectile that was first conceive to be this one has gone ( Bill Grayhas a guessfor it too ) .
The garden rocket stage will hit on March 4 at 12:25 UTC somewhere in or near the Hertzsprung crater on the Moon ’s far side . The Crater is settle on the Lunar equator and is known for have a aggregative concentration at its center .
