SpaceX Rocket On Moon Collision Course
Washington, Jan 26: A SpaceX rocket that blasted into space almost seven years ago is on a collision with the Earth satellite. Falcon 9 was originally launched from Florida in February 2015 as a part of an interplanetary mission. After completing a long burn of its engines to reach a transfer orbit, the rocket’s second stage became obsolete as the Deep Space Climate Observatory began its journey to a Sun-Earth LaGrange point. At this stage, the launch vehicle was high enough that it did not have enough fuel to return to Earth’s atmosphere but also “lacked the energy to escape the gravity of the Earth-Moon system”, meteorologist Eric Berger explained in a recent post on Ars Technica. “So it has been following a somewhat chaotic orbit since February 2015,” Berger said about the out-of-control rocket. According to The Guardian, space observers believe the rocket – about four metric tonnes of “space junk” – is on course to intersect the moon at a velocity of about 2.58km/s in a matter of weeks. Experts say the spent rocket’s orbit is on course to intersect with the moon on March 4.
