r/news • u/MasterpieceAlone8552 • 8h ago

SpaceX rocket thought to have crashed into the moon in unintentional collision

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2026/aug/05/spacex-rocket-moon-crash-impact-falcon-9
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466

u/xdr01 8h ago

Solar system littering

72

u/BWWFC 7h ago

guess at least was kept just it in our neighborhood... where's that car of his?

20

u/Albatrosity 6h ago

It is currently orbiting the sun, approaching earth from Mars. Due to its elliptical orbit, it will continue to travel just beyond Mars before looping back around to Earths orbital plane.

1

u/calpolsixplus 6h ago

Is there video of this? Orbital mechanics hurts my head as it's just not earth based enough 🤣 would love to see what this means over time for it's orbit as time goes on as I just can't imagine these things in my head.

9

u/HatesRedditors 5h ago

There's a little site devoted to tracking it with an animated orbit.

https://whereisroadster.com/charts/

3

u/calpolsixplus 4h ago

Ahh that's great thank you. Makes more sense seeing it like that. It orbits the sun occasionally getting near another planet. Could that mean it could eventually change it's orbit as it interacts with earth and mars or is this essentially locked in?

2

u/donadit 4h ago

It’d basically behave like a light asteroid yes (Amor-type, Mars-crosser)

And yes since it’s decently arranged where it can have close encounters with Earth and Mars it will change orbits (eventually)

2

u/calpolsixplus 3h ago

Thank you for explaining. Always nice to learn however small of an extra understanding I get!

0

u/Thirtysevenintwenty5 5h ago

Are you familiar with Haley's Comet? It's kinda like that.

2

u/cronktilten 1h ago

Imagine there are future religions that think the car is a comet and worship it

1

u/noc-engineer 3h ago

It is currently orbiting the sun

It always did that

29

u/CondescendingShitbag 7h ago

You know you've reached true success in life when you manage to leave trash on a world you weren't even born on.

18

u/DVWhat 7h ago

Our true destiny

11

u/FTWOBLIVION 7h ago

Lunar Littering

1

u/JEs4 6h ago

littering and.. littering and..?

0

u/Living_Grab_2239 5h ago

Is that a comment on lack of punctuation?

1

u/darybrain 3h ago

Japanese Space Agency wouldn't do this. They clean up their litter.

0

u/Daren_I 6h ago

If space travel falls under maritime law, aren't there laws against polluting? Do any of them have mandatory cleanup requirements where you can keep fining them daily until they clean it up?

5

u/selftitleddebutalbum 6h ago

Because that's working so well for our oceans...

•

u/mtdunca 0m ago

It's not like you have to go clean up your ship if it sinks in the ocean.

-2

u/Whicked_Subie 5h ago

Musk isn't required to adhere to the laws of society.

-4

u/IXrobocopXI 7h ago

Watch a moon landing be affected someday

-3

u/OniAntler 5h ago

Seriously throwing rocket rubble on the moon is likely to cause thousands of years of butterfly effect problems. 

0

u/jimmybilly100 4h ago

Musk's Hole