One more crater!Moonstruck<\/p>\n
We may finally have found closure for the saga of the derelict rocket believed to have crashed into the Moon earlier this year. Scientists have discovered a newly-formed double crater on the far side of our natural satellite, according to a NASA press release, where they believethe defunct spacecraft smashed down.<\/p>\n
Using imagery captured by NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), astronomers were able to deduce that the mystery space debris spotted on collision course for the Moon back in February crash-landed near the Hertzsprung Crater in early March.<\/p>\n
The scientific community also seems very pleased that the debris made lunar contact pretty much right where they thought it would.<\/p>\n
\"Newton wins again,\" joked Jonathan McDowell, an astrophysicist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, in an email to Gizmodo.<\/p>\n
The ramshackle rocket has faced its fair share of controversy.<\/p>\n
When the hunk of junk was first caught speeding towards the lunar surface, it was believed to a SpaceX second stage Falcon 9 craft an allegation that CEO Elon Musk took a lot of heat for.<\/p>\n
But further observation revealed otherwise, and now experts believe that the unfortunate debris was actually a Chinese Chang'e 5-T1 booster, left over from the nation's 2014 mission to the Moon.<\/p>\n
China, however, denies any responsibility, insisting that the Chang'e shuttle in question was eviscerated when re-entering Earth's atmosphere.<\/p>\n
The fact that the Definitely Not Chinese rocket created a double crater raises its own questions. As Gizmodo points out, it's a strange mark for any spacecraft to make; NASA speculates that the \"unexpected\" impact shape implies that the space trash must have had \"large masses at each end,\" which doesn't necessarily check out for a Chang'e. So, maybe we don't have closure after all?<\/p>\n
In any case, it's a bummer that humankind has officially hurled even more garbage at our lunar friend in the sky. This is why we can't have nice things.<\/p>\n
READ MORE: Likely Crash Site of Mystery Space Junk Spotted on Moons Far Side [Gizmodo]<\/p>\n
More on space junk: Russia Forced to Dodge Space Debris From When It Blew Up Satellite<\/p>\n
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Read this article: One more crater!Moonstruck We may finally have found closure for the saga of the derelict rocket believed to have crashed into the Moon earlier this year. Scientists have discovered a newly-formed double crater on the far side of our natural satellite, according to a NASA press release, where they believethe defunct spacecraft smashed down. Continue reading
\nNASA Spots Location Where Derelict Rocket Smashed Into the Moon - Futurism<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"