Joined: 6 May 2008 Age: 67 Gender: Male Posts: 59,827 Location: Stendec
29 Jun 2022, 8:33 pm
Exactly what the impactor was made for an intriguing tale. Initial calculations suggested it was the upper stage booster of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, which launched the Deep Space Climate Observatory mission. But observers later refined the trajectory and identified the object as a Long March 3C upper stage from China’s Chang’e 5 T1 mission. Chang’e 5 T1 flew past the Moon in late 2014 to demonstrate capsule reentry ahead of the full Chang’e 5 lunar-sample return. To date, however, China has not confirmed that the object was related to the Chang’e 5 T1 mission.
Joined: 6 May 2008 Age: 67 Gender: Male Posts: 59,827 Location: Stendec
30 Jun 2022, 10:30 am
The simplest explanations are either (1) a spent Chinese booster-rocket, or (2) a close pair of ordinary space-rocks with irregular shapes. One of the simplest explanations is most likely valid. I will go along with the "Chinese Rocket" explanation until proven otherwise (and not by YouTube videos or fallacies of logic).