What is the mysterious object NASA has found circling the moon?
A NASA robotic spacecraft has captured images of a mysterious object flying around the moon. It turns out that it was not an unidentified flying object.
A NASA robotic spacecraft currently orbiting the moon to gather lunar data has captured images of a mysterious object zipping above the lunar surface around March 5 to 6.
The space agency released a series of photos taken by its Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) showing an object that looked like a surfboard. However, it turns out that it was actually a Korean spacecraft that was speeding over the moon’s surface at thousands of miles per hour.
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What is the mysterious object NASA has found circling the moon?
The LRO had taken photos of the Korea Aerospace Research Institute’s Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter (KPLO), also known as Danuri, which was flying in a nearly parallel orbit.
Capturing the images was a feat of engineering in itself, because both spacecraft were traveling at high speeds in opposite directions. According to a NASA statement, taking the photo “needed exquisite timing”, as the relative velocities between the two orbiters was about 7,200 miles per hour.
The LRO camera’s exposure time was very brief, at a mere 0.0338 milliseconds, but because of the great relative travel velocities between the two orbiters, the image of Danuri was still distorted and appears stretched to 10 times its size.
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Lunar orbiters working hard to gather space information
The NASA orbiter has been circling and sending data about the moon for 15 years. Danuri, the first Moon spacecraft of the Republic of Korea, has been orbiting the Earth’s natural satellite since 2022.
South Korea’s spacecraft aims to gather information to assist in designing upcoming missions to the polar regions of the Moon. Per Space News, the orbiter was also able to successfully demonstrate the possibility of having “space internet” when it sent videos and photos from a distance of more than 1.2 million kilometers from the Earth.
The demonstration was held to assess the ability to transmit data in a space setting prone to frequent telecommunications disruptions.