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The empty rocket body will crash onto the Moon near Einstein crater. This is an old crater, as you can see by the soft edges, overlain by newer craters. The crater in the middle is Einstein A. It's volcanic terrain. 🧪 🔭

Einstein (crater) - Wikipediaen.wikipedia.org

Yes but L3 isn't near the Moon.

As well as all this complicated gravity, you have solar wind and flares, and Earth's very attenuated atmosphere - yes, it extends beyond the Moon! - and the shape, size and weight of the object as it tumbles. Spacecraft out there can quickly become chaotic. 🔭🧪

The extent of Earth’s geocoronaThe extent of Earth’s geocoronawww.esa.int

Out near the Moon, you have three competing gravitation wells, the Sun, Moon and Earth. There are 4 Lagrange points, where gravitational influences are sort of balanced. It's a very complex environment. 🧪 🔭

What are Lagrange Points? - NASA ScienceLagrange Points are positions in space where the gravitational forces of a two-body system like the Sun and Earth produce enhanced regions of attraction andscience.nasa.gov

How'd the Falcon 9 rocket stage end up heading for the Moon? We tend to think of orbits as stable - but that's only when a spacecraft has enough fuel and comms to be 'station kept'. Otherwise, even around Earth, it's a gravitational hall of mirrors out there. 🧪 🔭

So what's going on now? In 2025, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket left 2 commercial lunar landers, Blue Ghost and Hakuto-R, in a High Earth transit orbit so they could continue their journeys to the Moon. The 4000 kg upper stage rocket stayed behind, it's fuel depleted. 🧪 🔭

(I broke the thread somehow; anyway it starts here)

To send human ashes to the Moon was not a trivial act. In the US, the Navajo Nation outlined how this conflicted with their cosmology and requested future consultation. This did not happen. (Reminder: the Outer Space Treaty says space is the province of all humanity) 🔭 🧪

Navajo Nation President Objects to NASA Sending Cremated Human Remains to the MoonThe moon has long been revered by many Native American tribes. So, when Navajo Nation President Buu Nygren recently discovered that NASA is planning to launch a rocket headed to the moon in early Janu...nativenewsonline.net

Shoemaker's ashes were accompanied by lines from Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet: 'When he shall die, Take him and cut him out in little stars, And he will make the face of heaven so fine That all the world will be in love with night And pay no worship to the garish sun.' 🧪 🔭

In 1999, the Lunar Prospector orbiter was deliberately crashed into Shoemaker Crater at the Moon's south pole. The spacecraft carried some of the ashes of legendary planetary geologist Eugene Shoemaker. 🔭 🧪

Lunar Prospector - NASA ScienceNASA's Lunar Prospector orbited the Moon for almost 19 months to map its surface composition and to look for polar ice. The probe found evidence suggestingscience.nasa.gov

I hate the whole 'bubble chamber' discourse so much.

Going to sleep, I might add more in the morning! So much to say ....

Congratulations!

I know lots of other science is affected, but Jodrell Bank just does me in.

Only if you ate some!

I HATE THEM

The rocket bodies from Apollo 13, 14, 15, 16, and 17 were all deliberately crashed on the Moon, so the seismometers left by the astronauts could measure what happened. From this data we learnt that the Moon had a crust, mantle and core. 🧪 🔭 #PlanetSci

Moon Composition - NASA ScienceThe Moon is a differentiated world. This means that it is made of layers with different compositions. The Moon has a core, mantle, and crust.science.nasa.gov

Earth too receives a rain of interplanetary materials! An estimated 54 tons of stuff from meteoroids, asteroids and comets falls every day (including lots of interplanetary dust). Its just that we don't notice it because atmosphere. 🔭 🧪

It's not just human-made stuff, though. The Moon is struck by meteorites, micrometeorites, interplanetary dust and high energy particles, like cosmic rays, all the time. They pulverise, charge, and turn the Moon's surface over in a process called impact gardening. 🧪 🔭

Since then, the following have crashed: 8 rocket bodies, 18 orbiters, 6 impactors, 9 landers, and 5 ascent vehicles. They have been intentional, accidental, controlled and uncontrolled. Here you can see Ranger 8 filming all the way down in its 1965 controlled impact. 🧪 🔭

Ranger 8 Impacts MoonAfter 64 hours of travel time, Ranger 8 impacted the moon at its final destination, the Sea of Tranquility.www.jpl.nasa.gov