A rocket body impacted the Moon on March 4, 2022, near Hertzsprung crater, creating a double crater roughly 28 meters wide in the longest dimension. LROC NAC M1407760984R; image enlarged 3x
A new "double crater" has appeared on the moon, but no nation has taken ownership of the impact.
Images published by NASA reveal what it refers to as a "double crater" created on the Moon's surface by an unidentified spacecraft, according to a news story by Complex.
The agency said in a statement released on June 24 that astronomers first discovered a "rocket body" in late 2021 that was destined to collide with the moon. The aforementioned double crater was later photographed by NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), which is run by the Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland. It has been confirmed that the impact took place in March.
The eastern crater is 18-meter diameter while the western crater is 16-meter diameter.
After a rocket body impacted the Moon last year, NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter was able to snap a surprising view of the impact site. Unexpectedly, the crater is actually two craters and may indicate that the rocket body had large masses at each end: https://t.co/WtMAFrNkUw pic.twitter.com/hcoYPxlm8z
— NASA 360 (@NASA360) June 27, 2022
NASA said that the unexpected double crater might be a sign that the rocket body had substantial masses at each end. Typically, the mass of a spent rocket stage is concentrated at the motor end and mostly consists of an empty fuel tank. The double nature of the crater may provide clues as to the identity of the rocket body, whose origin is still unknown.
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What Might Be the Cause of the Double Craters on the Moon?
Huffpost reported that according to astronomer Bill Gray, the object could be the "spent upper stage" of China's Chang'e 5-T1 rocket. He stated this in an interview with Live Science.
After seeing the rocket in space in 2015, Gray envisaged that its debris would collide with the moon, according to Live Science.
The media outlet claimed that he initially identified the rocket debris as a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, but then classified it as a Chinese rocket that had been launched in 2014.
Despite the U.S. Department of Defense's Space Command reporting that the rocket was still in space in March, Chinese officials stated that it "burned up" and came back to Earth in 2014.
Other Craters Caused by Other Space Crafts
NASA said that the double craters were not produced by any other rocket body impacts on the Moon. The four Apollo SIV-B craters (Apollos 13, 14, 15, 17) had relatively irregular forms and were somewhat larger than each of the double craters (more than 35 meters). The double crater on the mystery rocket body's maximum width (29 meters) was comparable to the S-IVBs.
You can see below the craters which Apollos 13, 14, 15, 17 have created:
These four images show craters formed by impacts of the Apollo SIV-B stages: crater diameters range from 35 to 40 meters (38.2 to 43.7 yards) in the longest dimension.
What Kind of Spacecraft Captured These Double Craters?
According to the space agency, LRO was put into orbit on June 18, 2009, and since then, its seven powerful instruments have gathered an enormous amount of data, adding significantly to our understanding of the Moon. For the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington, it is overseen by the Goddard Space Flight Center of NASA, which is located in Greenbelt, Maryland.
In order to increase human presence in space and return with new information and opportunities, NASA is traveling back to the Moon alongside international and commercial partners.
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