A portion of a SpaceX rocket is expected to crash into the far side of the moon on March 4, 2022.
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Launched from Cape Canaveral in Florida in February 2015, the rocket was carrying a telescope and a US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration weather satellite that it helped launch into orbit. After assisting in the launch, the rocket lacked the fuel necessary to either return to Earth's atmosphere or "escape the gravity of the Earth-Moon system," as meteorologist Eric Berger recently explained to the Ars Technica news site. It has spent the seven years since hurtling through space.
Observers believe the rocket's Falcon9 booster will hit the moon at a velocity of around 2.58 km per second.
Scientists are hoping to locate the point of collision in the hope the crater formed by the impact may help them learn more about the geology on the far side of the moon.
Data analyst Bill Gray surmised the collision was likely to be "the first unintentional case" of space junk landing on the moon.
Jonathan McDowell, an astrophysicist at Harvard University, meanwhile, tweeted: " For those asking: yes, an old Falcon 9 second stage left in high orbit in 2015 is going to hit the moon on March 4. It's interesting, but not a big deal."
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