BBC reports a Falcon 9 launched on 2015 is abourt to crash on the moon.
https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-60148543
Mentions it didn't have enough fuel to return to Earth and got caught in various gravitational pulls to end up on Moon.
If we are discussing Falcon 9 as the first stage (the only thing that normally returns), it is capable of reaching orbital speeds or is it
doomed to be slowed down by thin atmosphere and renter Earth one way or another?
or is the BBC confused and they are talking about a second stage?
And from a "crash into the Moon" aspect would there be an actual
explision due to content of tanks, or just the explosion of some mass
going really fast hitting the ground? After over 6 years, would there
be enough fuel and O2 left in the tanks to explode?
On 2022-01-27 23:05, JF Mezei wrote:
BBC reports a Falcon 9 launched on 2015 is abourt to crash on the moon.
https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-60148543
Mentions it didn't have enough fuel to return to Earth and got caught in
various gravitational pulls to end up on Moon.
If we are discussing Falcon 9 as the first stage (the only thing that
normally returns), it is capable of reaching orbital speeds or is it
doomed to be slowed down by thin atmosphere and renter Earth one way or
another?
or is the BBC confused and they are talking about a second stage?
It is the second stage, of course. But it is still a part of the "Falcon 9 launcher". BBC says "The Falcon 9 booster", which is misleading. I suppose I am reading the same article as you (https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-60148543).
And from a "crash into the Moon" aspect would there be an actual
explision due to content of tanks, or just the explosion of some mass
going really fast hitting the ground? After over 6 years, would there
be enough fuel and O2 left in the tanks to explode?
Often such left-over stages are passivated by letting the propellants out into space. I don't know if that was done for this stage, but one of the sources quoted by BBC (prof. McDowell) describes it as "basically a four-tonne empty metal tank", so it may have been passivated.
Most of the remaining O2 must have been let out to avoid overpressuring the LOX tank as the left-over LOX boiled. So with little O2, even if there is some RP1 left, the explosion, if any, will be minor.
Niklas Holsti is guilty of <j5gninFkq2oU1@mid.individual.net> as of 1/27/2022 3:18:46 PM
On 2022-01-27 23:05, JF Mezei wrote:
BBC reports a Falcon 9 launched on 2015 is abourt to crash on the moon.
https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-60148543
Mentions it didn't have enough fuel to return to Earth and got caught in >>> various gravitational pulls to end up on Moon.
If we are discussing Falcon 9 as the first stage (the only thing that
normally returns), it is capable of reaching orbital speeds or is it
doomed to be slowed down by thin atmosphere and renter Earth one way or
another?
or is the BBC confused and they are talking about a second stage?
It is the second stage, of course. But it is still a part of the "Falcon 9 >> launcher". BBC says "The Falcon 9 booster", which is misleading. I suppose >> I am reading the same article as you
(https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-60148543).
And from a "crash into the Moon" aspect would there be an actual
explision due to content of tanks, or just the explosion of some mass
going really fast hitting the ground? After over 6 years, would there
be enough fuel and O2 left in the tanks to explode?
Often such left-over stages are passivated by letting the propellants out
into space. I don't know if that was done for this stage, but one of the
sources quoted by BBC (prof. McDowell) describes it as "basically a
four-tonne empty metal tank", so it may have been passivated.
Most of the remaining O2 must have been let out to avoid overpressuring the >> LOX tank as the left-over LOX boiled. So with little O2, even if there is
some RP1 left, the explosion, if any, will be minor.
Scott Manley has advised me that this stage was from the DSCOVR mission, which is interesting timing ... DSCOVR is at L1 for sun observations (and little blue pearl monitoring), so we're still getting news about getting to Lagrangian points.
<URL:https://www.nesdis.noaa.gov/current-satellite-missions/currently-flying/dscovr-deep-space-climate-observatory>
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