A mysterious part of the rocket that was discarded from a rocket body or spacecraft is all set to crash into the moon on Friday, March 4. The three-tonne rocket part approximately the size of a bus is expected to hit at 12:25 pm GMT. Reportedly, the space junk is hurtling through space at 5,800 mph. According to scientists, the rocket part will hit the Hertzsprung Crater on the far side of the moon. Experts and astronomers believe that the effects of the impact on the Moon will be minor.

Unfortunately, astronomers will not get an immediate view of the collision as the crash is likely to happen on the far side of the lunar surface. NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), however, will visit the crater and study it after the impact, said the LRO mission spokesperson. International Space Station Will Plunge Into Pacific Ocean in 2031, Says NASA.

In the interesting events, the space debris was initially believed to be of the Falcon 9 rocket which was launched by Elon Musk's SpaceX. Later astronomers said that the rocket belonged to China. China, however, denied the statement. Russia-Ukraine Cyber War: Hackers Breach Russian Space Research Site, Leak Mission Files.

Space junk, also known as space debris, space pollution, etc, is a discarded artificial object in space. As per the European Space Agency (ESA), there are a total of 36,500 pieces of space junk tumbling in space larger than 10 cm. While the US Space Surveillance Network estimates that there are more than 128 million pieces of debris smaller than 1 cm. The numbers might seem scary, however, space debris poses minimal harm to humans and the Earth.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Mar 04, 2022 02:25 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).