The two probes nearly collided in the orbit of the moon

Russia It just destroyed a satellite that broke into hundreds of thousands of its parts and is now threatening space facilities, and we are already hearing news of the collision of two research probes in the orbit of the Moon.

We are talking about the American investigation lunar reconnaissance vehicle The Hindi Chandrayaan-2. According to information published by the Indian Space Agency, on October 20, both ships will likely find themselves on a collision course Near the north pole of the moon.

The two cars were supposed to pass only 100 metres. That’s a very short distance for these large monitors. However, the US and Indian space agency previously contacted each other about this and The orbits of the probes have been changedTo pass each other a safe distance. At the time of approach, they were about 3,000 meters away.

NASA He revealed that it was the Indian probe that moved away from the path of the American lunar reconnaissance vehicle. This happened due to the fact that it is much larger and works more comprehensively study of the lunar surface. Thus, changing its orbit could lead to greater perturbations from a scientific point of view.

Unfortunately, it is possible to reopen both orbits in the future They are on a collision course. The silver ball is large in diameter and these objects are unimportant to it, but because it orbits the Moon in a polar orbit, it is more at risk of collision.

While we’re still talking about the moon’s orbit, we can expect it to start more and more in the future Like a crowded earth. It will happen through software colonization of the moon. The USA, India, China, Russia and other countries will send hundreds of devices there in the coming decades, so the risk of them crashing will increase.

Interestingly, satellites are often on a collision course in Earth’s orbit. However, it is also often possible to change their orbits ahead of time to avoid a catastrophe. Hopefully no country will take the test anymore Anti-satellite weaponsAs Russia did recently, because changing the orbits of space facilities to avoid collisions may not be enough.