The process of landing the first stage of the Falcon 9 rocket on terra firma has been accomplished, but the second stage is left to burn up in the atmosphere as it falls back to Earth. That is what usually happens.
The Deep Space Climate Observatory mission, which was launched in 2015, went awry after all the necessary deployment steps were completed, according to a report.
A lack of fuel prevented the second-stage booster from reaching Earth's atmosphere, causing it to plummet through space. It looks like its seven-year voyage will end abruptly in March when it slams into the moon at 5,000 mph.
After crunching all of the available data, sky-watcher Bill Gray, who also develops software that tracks near-Earth objects, has concluded that the second stage of the Falcon 9 will impact the lunar surface on March 4, most likely on the far side.
Gray commented on the accuracy of the impact date on his website, "If this were a rock, I would be 100% certain."
He said that he has a complete mathematical model of what the Earth, moon, sun, and planets are doing. I don't have a good idea of how much sunlight is pushing away from the object. This allows me to make predictions with a bit of confidence.
Gray wants to calculate the impact location as precisely as possible in the hope that NASA and India will be able to take pictures of the crash site.
It will be the first time that a man-made object crashes onto the lunar surface. A deliberate impact took place in 2009, when a NASA rocket and probe were sent to the moon to find water on Earth.
NASA's upcoming Artemis missions will see the first crewed lunar landing in five decades. The collision next month will cause a piece of the kit to arrive at the moon earlier than expected.
