A "mystery rocket" crashed into the moon and NASA is baffled as to origin

[JoanofArgh]

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A “mystery rocket” crashed into the Moon earlier this year and NASA says none of Earth’s space-faring nations have claimed it as theirs:

NASA has discovered the crash site of a "mystery rocket body" that collided with the Moon's surface earlier this year. The impact left behind a widespread "double crater," meaning it wasn't the average rocket.

However, since its crash landing, none of Earth's space-exploring nations have claimed responsibility for the mysterious projectile, leaving NASA scientists baffled as to who was behind its launch. New images shared on June 24 by NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter show the unusual impact site.

"Surprisingly the crater is actually two craters, an eastern crater (18-meter diameter, about 19.5 yards) superimposed on a western crater (16-meter diameter, about 17.5 yards," NASA reported. "The double crater was unexpected...No other rocket body impacts on the Moon created double craters."

Astronomers anticipated the crash after spotting the unidentified rocket on a collision course with the Moon late last year. It finally hit on March 4 near the Hertzsprung crater, a "complex" impact crater on the far side of the Moon. NASA stated that the two large masses on each end of the rocket may have caused the craters, but noted that the impact marks are highly unusual. Spent rockets, according to NASA, tend to have a heavy motor at one end and a lighter empty fuel tank on the other, scientists say. The space agency did not offer any guesses on what the additional mass was.

https://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/mystery-rocket-NASA-moon-crash-country-origin-17273903.php

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[BlueJac]

1. K&R

Very interesting.

[grumpyduck]

2. How do they know it was a rocket?

The piece didn't say, only that they were tracking its movement.

[essaynnc]

3. little green men.....????

[Takket]

4. was it an active rocket?

i'm wondering when it was "found" late last year, was it still burning fuel on a collision course, or was it something that was adrift in orbit for some amount of time and just now crashed into the moon? if it was still "burning" then it couldn't have been launched that long before it was discovered. Doesn't NASA monitor pretty much everything launched into orbit?

[muriel_volestrangler]

20. No, it wasn't 'burning' - none of them can do that for long - just minutes

(apart from the few ion-drive-engined craft NASA has launched, and they're well tracked). It's something launched years ago. In January, they thought it was a SpaceX stage launched in 2015; by February, a Chinese stage launched in 2014. But they just don't seem able to tell, and it looks like none of them want to admit having no idea where their junk has ended up.

[Victor_c3]

35. I would expect that NORAD would be aware of any rocket launches

They observe such things as part of our nuclear weapon defense.

Definitely interesting.

[Sneederbunk]

5. Obviously came in from the lost planet Oron.

[Tommy Carcetti]

6. OH MY GOD, THEY BOMBED THE MOON.

THEY SAID THEY WOULD DO IT, AND THAT’S EXACTLY WHAT THEY DID.

(Old DU callback.)

[dweller]

10. Gomer gohmert

trying to adjust the tides …





✌🏻

[ret5hd]

18. Menstrual cycles...trying to get all women...

pregnant at the same time…now that RvW is gone.

[Towlie]

7. NASA sent it. It's a scam to get them funding to send another astronaut to the Moon.

 
?

[FreepFryer]

8. NASA smelt it, I bet they dealt it (Nt)

[myohmy2]

22. nah...

...I'd bet if you could smell it would have a musky odor...

...

[captain queeg]

9. Very interesting. An old rocket from the USSR?

[Firestorm49]

17. I thought that I read that China was sending a vehicle

to the dark side.

[captain queeg]

21. Yeah. I think they already did. Can't remember if it had a lander.

[gratuitous]

11. Damn, so that's where it landed

My bad, everybody.

[irisblue]

12. 1996 movie, Independence Day. We are looking at them, they are looking at us.

[LonePirate]

13. I'm guessing it is from one of 5 nations.

China
India
Russia

Or long shots:
Iran
North Korea

[Baitball Blogger]

14. Does the rocket look like a coffin and does it say Hargreeves anywhere on

the exterior?

[madinmaryland]

15. It must have something to do with Jewish space lasers.

[dweller]

16. That moon is our's !

We are under attack !?!



✌🏻

[ThoughtCriminal]

19. 29 meters - those are big holes

"No other rocket body impacts on the Moon created double craters. The four Apollo SIV-B craters were somewhat irregular in outline (Apollos 13, 14, 15, 17) and were substantially larger (greater than 35 meters, about 38 yards) than each of the double craters. The maximum width (29 meters, about 31.7 yards) of the double crater of the mystery rocket body was near that of the S-IVBs."

The SIV-B was a pretty big rocket stage.

[Beastly Boy]

23. Only one interstellar object could leave a double crater.

[48656c6c6f20]

24. It was Danny

[bluecollar2]

25. The Borg sent Voyager back...they're not interested...n/t

[Stinky The Clown]

26. Ordered and executed by North Korea's Midget King

[TomSlick]

27. Wouldn't US satellites have noticed if a rocket had been launched from earth?

[AntiFascist]

28. Le Voyage dans le Lune...maybe it was French?

[Paha Sapa]

29. I think it was that Tesla car Musk shot into space...

and it was using the auto drive feature (heh, heh).

[beaglelover]

31. As a Tesla driver I LOL'd!

[beaglelover]

30. Why do they assume it came from Earth??

[MineralMan]

36. They were tracking it before it hit the Moon.

So, they probably have a good idea of its overall trajectory.

Still, they don't know where it came from. Odd. Maybe North Korea? Who knows?

[Polybius]

32. Maybe a private person built it

I mean, why not? It's possible.

[MineralMan]

37. Seems unlikely to me. It's hard enough to put something in

Earth orbit. Hitting the moon is more complicated and requires a higher speed to get there. Clearly, this was a rather large object, if it made those two craters. It's an interesting mystery. China could have done it, of course. Maybe even North Korea.

[area51]

33. It could be this guy.