10:37:14 
2023-11-21 
634
In March of last year, a rocket collided with the far side of the moon, and no one on Earth knew the identity of this object.
A team of aerospace and mechanical engineers from the University of Arizona, the California Institute of Technology, the Pluto Project, and the Planetary Science Institute found evidence that strongly suggests that the object, dubbed WE0913A, which collided with the surface of the moon on March 4, 2022, was a Chinese booster rocket with an unknown object attached to its side.
In their new paper published in The Planetary Science Journal, the group describes how they tracked the object before it collided with the Moon, and what they learned by doing so.
Astronomers tracked the mysterious missile for weeks before it hit the surface of the moon, leaving a strange double crater about 30 meters wide. It was first spotted in March 2015, and has been flying solo around the Earth and the Moon for years.
Early speculation about the origins of WE0913A indicated that it could be the upper stage of Elon Musk's Falcon 9 rocket, which launched a satellite into orbit on February 15.
Tracking of the launches quickly disproved this theory, and scientists suggested instead that the object was a Chinese missile.
After further investigation, scientists at the time suggested that the object colliding with the lunar surface was the third stage of the Long March 3C rocket that launched the Chinese Chang'e 5-T1 mission on the lunar surface in October 2014, as part of the Chinese Space Agency's lunar exploration program. Now, a team from the University of Arizona has confirmed the theory.
"In late 2021, it was discovered that the object WE0913A would collide with the Moon in March 2022 after several close flybys of the Earth and the Moon over the following months," the team wrote. "The true identity of this object has been up for debate, with two possibilities: either a Falcon 9 R/B from a mission DSCOVR, or Long March 3C R/B from the Chang'e 5-T1 mission.”
The team, led by doctoral student Tanner Campbell at the University of Arizona, analyzed the path and light emissions using ground-based telescopes, which ruled out Falcon 9 and confirmed that it was the remains of a Chinese vehicle now spread on the surface of the moon.
However, in 2022, China denied that the collision was a result of the Chang'e 5-T1 mission, saying that the upper stage of the Chang'e 5-T1 mission's rocket fell into the Earth's atmosphere in a safe manner and burned up completely.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin added: "China's aerospace endeavors are always in line with international law. We are committed to seriously safeguarding the long-term sustainability of outer space activities and are ready to conduct extensive exchanges and cooperation with all parties."
But the US Space Command later said that the object did not enter the Earth's atmosphere.
The mystery about this object did not stop there, as the collision left a rare double crater that did not fit the published specifications of the missile.
Most impact craters are round if the object falls straight up, or rectangular if it hits at an angle.
"This is the first time we've seen a double crater," Campbell explained. "We know that in the case of Chang'e 5 T1, its impact was almost direct, and to get these two craters that are roughly the same size, you need two masses that are roughly equal and far apart."
The team said the strange impact crater suggested the missile was actually a dumbbell, with a counterweight against the rocket's engines, but they didn't know what it was.
"We obviously have no idea what that might be, maybe some additional support structures, or additional tools or whatever. And we'll probably never know," Campbell concluded.
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