Out-of-control SpaceX rocket on collision course with moon | SpaceX
theguardian.com/science/2022/jan/26/out-of-co...Posted Jan 27, 2022, 4:11 AM UTC
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Crash landing some raw materials for future moon base.
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Though I'm not in love with Musk or private space flight, this is actually a really important idea. It doesn't hurt to have a scrap yard on the moon. Much better than having random space junk killing satellites or just disappearing into the void.
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doesn't hurt to have a scrap yard on the moon
Spoken like a real earthling
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There isn't really anything left after a moon collision.
Apollo upper stages were all deliberately crashed on the moon, to produce shockwaves with known mass/speed of the impacter to be used for deep crust analysis. Nothing survives an impact of that speed. The rocket itself is vaporized and debris from the collision are mostly flung off the moon due to the lack of drag and low escape velocity.
The moon is a poor place to dump our trash anyways. Re-entry or graveyard orbits are both more practical and easier to access, all you need is a launch provider and vehicle operator actually caring enough to do it. SpaceX has demonstrated an outstanding job in that regard BTW.
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That'll show those Nazis on the dark side that we mean business!
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If the moon people see this as an act of war, we're all f***ed!!
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Well, yes, that's often what happens with rockets that launch things to the Moon or the Lagrangian points, because, once you're past low Earth orbit but not really far away from the Earth-Moon system, the Moon tends to gravitationally drag things towards itself - asteroids, spent rocket stages, etc. - if it's closer to you than the Earth is.
And, while it's technically pollution or littering, it's not actually a problem; it's a single object, of a category of objects that hit the Moon so infrequently that I wouldn't be surprised if this is the first impact of its type in the past 5 to 10 years.
Also, it's not like dumping the occasional rocket on the Moon would somehow ruin it, any moreso then dumping a beer can into a volcano would either. It's a dead rock with essentially no atmosphere and no life, and things regularly crash into it without us having anything to do with it. Why do you think the Moon has so many craters?
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But think about the mess our kids will have to clean up when we populate the moon!
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Mess?
Or ready-made raw material, ripe for being used as micrometeorite/radiation shielding or melted down for its metal content?
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We willingly crashed upper stages for sismic data. It's been a while since we last had an impacter with known mass and speed. It's a research opportunity as well. Plus impacts at serval kilometers per second turn anything into a plasma anyways.
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so is it potentially contaminating the moon w/ stowaway microbes?
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If it did, it wouldn't be the first time. In 2019 the Beresheet lunar lander accidentally crashed into the Moon while carrying several thousand tardigrades. Research done years later determined that they most likely didn't survive the impact. This SpaceX rocket is far less likely to contaminate the Moon with anything that could survive the crash then the Beresheet lander since its been in space for about 7 years.
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I dunno, the 96 bags of pee and poop the Apollo astronauts tossed out their airlocks before leaving for Earth might count for quite a bit of "contamination", and apparently that hasn't been an issue over the last half century.
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Whats there to contaminate... the moon is a lifeless rock devoid of any and all organic matter. There's really nothing to contaminate and ruin
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I remember reading people were upset about RTGs on space probes because they might contaminate space with radiation. Ha!
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We left landers and actual astronaut poop on the moon for decades, and deliberately crashed upper stages into the moon for research.
Contamination isn't an issue on the moon, it never was. On top of that the stage is going to be vaporized by the impact. Life finds a way but physics tend to disagree with organic life when it gets turned into a plasma.
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It's been in space since 2015, so while it's not impossible for there to be some stuff on there it's pretty unlikely. But it'll be impacting at a few kilometres per second, easily enough to vaporise the rocket and any stowaways.
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Just think how far human civilization has come. We're now at the point where commercial vehicles are accidentally crashing into the moon. It's like something out of a sci-fi story from the 1950's. I think that's pretty cool. The future is here.
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It’s so amazing. The fact can fly out to space and shit is wild
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Sounds like the marketing team for the Moonfall movie are working overtime on this one.
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Wow this could have been a “Derelict spent rocket may crash on the moon” but they needed some punch in the headline.
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It’s not “out of control”, it was intentionally left in this orbit and deactivated. Fucking click bate man.
Leave Jason out of this. He's been busy with my new Ozark
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Though the Guardian's title isn't quite as bad as Gawker's SpaceX Banging the Moon with Its Junk there's definitely been an increase in clickbait titles at the Guardian. It's worth noting that the BBC's Elon Musk SpaceX rocket on collision course with moon isn't any better. Though when more punchy less accurate article titles lead to way more hits you can't entirely blame them.
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Not to mention the 10th time I've seen this on my feed today
Technically everything in space that is moving in an unpowered orbit/trajectory without functional thrusters, working control systems and sufficient fuel to change the path to a desired one is out of control (i.e. not under our control)
This includes a large number of satellites in their correct orbit just doing their thing. A satellite that is out of control is just the nature of space. The headline just relies on the standard human assumption that out of control is bad - when in reality it is part of the mission. So at least it is technically correct clickbait.
Most clickbait relies on people not knowing their biases and assumptions - as for some reason most journalists draw the line at lying, but are happy to mislead - even if the end result is the same.
I imagine soon for shootings journalists will refer to people being hit by out if control bullets.
Jason Bateman?
Incidentally, why is it okay to litter the moon with space debris?
If you dump a rocket on earth, are there not costs charged to you? Did SpaceX pay for the land to store their pile of space junk?
Literally nobody is upset it’s impacting the moon - scientists are excited to observe the event.
Well, in defense of u/Xenton,
Crash a few thousand propellant tanks and it might not be worth studying in the future.
But the first one is pretty special and I'm sure some agencies even helped fund SpaceX's crash.
Well, in defense of u/Xenton,
Crash a few thousand propellant tanks and it might not be worth studying in the future.
But the first one is pretty special and I'm sure some agencies even helped fund SpaceX's crash.
I'm upset.
So should anyone who has an interest in not spreading our filth across the universe.
Scientists are also excited to study the plastic islands in the pacific ocean, but they're an ecological fucking catastrophe.
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No costs charged to any space launch or satellite operators as of right now I think. Most spacecraft that are deorbited ends up in the ocean if they're not outright destroyed by the atmosphere. On the other hand spacecraft that is way to far to deorbit like this F9 second stage can only be left drifting since there's no ready way to retrieve them.
There won't be anything left, there'll be a new crater on the moon.
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The moon doesn't have a thick atmosphere like earth's. There'll be plenty "left".
No there won't, impacting at several kilometres per second will completely vaporise the entire thing.
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If it were in control, it would still be in orbit, and not have been hurtling toward the moon for the last 7 years, wouldn’t it?
It was purposefully deactivated - it was never intended to be “in control”. This is standard operating procedure for entire space industry not something bad that SpaceX did.
It’s still bad, even if it’s not exclusive to SpaceX. If it’s not “in control”, it’s by definition “out of control”. It was once controlled, now it can no longer be controlled and is possibly going to hit the moon. You say it was “intentionally left in this orbit” but it’s not in any orbit. It’s literally been flying through empty space. If we are ever going to utilize the moon in any physical sense, we can’t afford to have ANYTHING out of control falling onto its surface. Imagine a booster destroying a habitat or a return vehicle because “standard procedure” dictates that we just leave our trash to float away through space.
Everything in space is in orbit and impact was expected, this happens routinely to everything left in space eventually. It’s not possible to do this any other way.
The space community is eager to watch it crash in to the moon for science. Nobody is upset about this.
Actually as a New Zealander (aotearoa) we see the moon first and have ancestoral rights to it and want to look after this sacred place. We don't want your litter and are sadden by your callous disrespect
You must have been pissed when NASA left their garbage on the surface and previously intentionally smashed spacecraft on the surface for science. Impacts happen all the time- this is no different nor the first.
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