月衝突のロケットは中国製　天文学者が予想訂正

【ワシントンＡＦＰ＝時事】３月４日に月に衝突する見通しの使用済みロケットについて、米宇宙開発企業スペースＸ製ではなく、中国製であることが分かった。衝突軌道を最初に突き止めた天文学者のビル・グレイ氏が先週末、当初予測の誤りを認めた。（写真は月）
　実際に月に衝突する見通しなのは、２０１４年に中国の月探査機「嫦娥５号Ｔ１」の打ち上げに使われたロケットのブースター。
　宇宙ごみの規制強化を訴える天文学者のジョナサン・マクダウエル氏はツイッターで今回の誤認について「深宇宙の物体は正確に追跡できないという問題を浮き彫りにした」と指摘した。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】

〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2022/02/16-12:05）

Astronomy experts say they originally misread the secrets of the night sky last month: it turns out that a rocket expected to crash into the Moon in early March was built by China, not SpaceX.
A rocket will indeed strike the lunar surface on March 4, but contrary to what had been announced, it was built not by Elon Musk's company, but by Beijing, experts now say.
The rocket is now said to be 2014-065B, the booster for the Chang'e 5-T1, launched in 2014 as part of the Chinese space agency's lunar exploration program.
The surprise announcement was made by astronomer Bill Gray, who first identified the future impact, and admitted his mistake last weekend.
This (honest mistake) just emphasizes the problem with lack of proper tracking of these deep space objects, tweeted astronomer Jonathan McDowell, who advocates for greater regulation of space waste.
The object had about the brightness we would expect, and had showed up at the expected time and moving in a reasonable orbit, he wrote in post.
But in hindsight, I should have noticed some odd things about its orbit, he added.
NASA said in late January that it would attempt to observe the crater that will be formed by the explosion of this object, thanks to its probe that orbits around the Moon, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO).
The agency called the event an exciting research opportunity.