CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — The moon is about to get walloped by a big piece of space junk. The leftover rocket will slam into the far side of the moon Friday.
Experts think it is from a China launch from 2014, but China is dubious. SpaceX originally took the rap for this lunar litter, but the asteroid hunter who discovered the collision course in January later concluded it was from China.
No matter where it came from, the space junk will carve out a crater on the moon that could fit several semitractor-trailers.
It may take weeks, even months, to confirm the impact through satellite images.
According to nature.com, the collision poses no threat to humans or other spacecraft. However, there is concern that the moon is becoming a dumping ground for space junk.
“There are only a handful of objects in lunar orbit, but I hope this event sheds light on the growing problem of space junk. This science community is concerned about the growing pollution,” Vishnu Reddy, associate professor with the University of Arizona's Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, said in a statement.
