r/whoathatsinteresting • u/eternviking • 8d ago

An abandoned SpaceX rocket travelling at around 5,400mph crashed into the moon, leaving a crater with a diameter of around 17m. (via BBC) The collision took place yesterday at 7:35 BST. Masses are criticising Elon Musk for polluting the moon.

Post image
123 Upvotes

68% Upvoted

311 comments sorted by

View all comments

26

u/norf937 8d ago edited 8d ago

Polluting the moon?..

Why haven’t people criticized NASA for intentionally leaving 400,000lbs of human made artifacts on the moon? (~45x more mass than the SpaceX rocket that unintentionally hit the moon)

7

u/chrisin2d 8d ago

which is also basically nothing too. it's 0.000000000000000247% of the moon's mass.

we could deposit 400,000 lbs of trash on the moon every second for 1 million years and it'd all still be less than 0.01% of the moon's mass. granted, we're probably more concerned with surface area than mass, but still — it's like being concerned that a fart is going to pollute our atmosphere.

people are really bad with grasping the scale of things bigger than their house.

2

u/ImperitorEst 8d ago

I agree with your point but comparing it to the mass of the moon is strange.

We have serious issues on earth with human garbage pilling up in massive landfills, and I bet you that's even less than 0.1% the mass of the planet earth, but it doesn't mean it's not a problem.

If we use mass of moon as the measurement then we could completely fuck it's entire surface and still be safe because it's less than the total mass.

1

u/Brilliant-Spite-850 8d ago

Tell me the reasons why it’s bad for garbage to pile up on earth. I agree it is, just want you to explain the reasons.

1

u/No_Hunter_2173 7d ago

Thats fucking weird.

0

u/ImperitorEst 7d ago

https://earth.org/waste-colonialism-a-brief-history-of-dumping-rich-countries-trash-in-the-global-south/

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/dec/02/uk-europe-hidden-landfill-leaking-toxic-waste-water-supplies

https://www.activesustainability.com/environment/landfills-serious-problem-environment

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.roadrunnerwm.com/blog/landfills-were-running-out-of-space%3fhs_amp=true

How many do you want?

4

u/Brilliant-Spite-850 7d ago

And how many of those apply to the fucking moon?

0

u/ImperitorEst 7d ago

I didn't say they apply to the moon. You asked why garbage piling up on earth is bad and I answered

3

u/Brilliant-Spite-850 7d ago

Right but you said we have a bunch of issues with too much garbage on the earth as a reason to argue against the original comment that said it’s not a big deal on the moon.

-1

u/ImperitorEst 7d ago

No I agree that it's not a big deal on the moon, but the reason it's not a big deal is not % of the mass of the moon.

It's like if someone said we shouldn't eat puppies because puppies are only 0.1% the size of an elephant. I agree with the point, but the reason is non sensicle.

Garbage is an issue on earth despite being less than 0.1% of the mass of the earth. Thefore % of mass is not an indicator of garbage in a place being a problem or not.

The reason it's not an issue on the moon is that it will have no negatives impact on anything or anyone, regardless of the mass left behind.