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A piece of space debris will hit the far side of the moon for the first time in March
Photo: NASA/Getty Images
In 2015, astronomer Bill Gray became the first to discover an object in space heading for the moon.
He calculated the day of the collision: On March 4, 2022, the missile would hit the moon at around 1:25 p.m. Central European Time.
And he identified the object as part of a rocket from the aerospace company Space X, the second stage of the "Falcon 9".
But apparently he was mistaken.
In a new blog post, Gray, who developed the space observation software Project Pluto, corrects his assessment: he made a mistake when originally identifying the artificial object.
It is not a rocket part from Space X, but very likely part of a Chinese rocket - more precisely the booster stage of the lunar probe Chang'e 5-T1.
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The decisive indication that there must be an error was given by NASA engineer Jon Giorgini, Gray writes in his contribution.
The engineer alerted him that Space X's Falcon 9 had not flown close enough to the moon to be a candidate for the collision.
The trajectory does not really match the launch of the satellite that the rocket transported into space in 2015.
Then Gray looked for another suitable space mission and found the Chinese mission Chang'e 5-T1.
This probe was launched in October 2014, orbited the moon and then returned to Earth.
Nothing was known about the whereabouts of the launch vehicle.
A "pretty convincing" clue
Gray points out in his text that it is still a "hint".
However, he considers it to be “pretty convincing”.
Some parts of his prediction will probably not change even with the new insights: It is said to be the first - registered - case in which space debris accidentally hits the moon.
Nothing will be visible from the collision on Earth, the impact will take place on the side of the moon facing away from the Earth.
And: The collision will not pose any danger.
vki