The debris will crash into the Hertzsprung Crater on the far side of Moon, which does not face Earth, at 4.25pm, Gulf Standard Time.
It will strike the surface at 9,300 kilometres per hour, fast enough to carve out a crater more than 10 metres wide.
This is the first time a piece of rocket will accidentally crash into the Moon.
The National explains everything you need to know about the collision.
Whose rocket is it?
Data analyst Bill Gray was the first to discover that a rocket stage was headed in the direction of the Moon.
He first identified it as a SpaceX rocket on his blog, but then corrected it to say that it was a remnant from China’s Long March 3C rocket that launched the Chang’e 5-T1 lunar robotic spacecraft in 2014.
China has denied ownership of the rocket, but Nasa disagrees.
“The booster used to launch Chang'e 5-T1 went into a highly elliptical Earth orbit after launch,” Nasa said on its website.
The far side of the Moon. It may take weeks, even months, to confirm the impact through satellite images. AP
“Some calculations show it is on a trajectory to impact the far side of the Moon on March 4, 2022, although China's foreign ministry has denied this identification, stating that the booster had already burned up in the Earth's atmosphere.”
Students from the University of Arizona had also been tracking the debris for weeks and said it was a Chinese rocket stage. They made the identification due to its paint job.
“I am astounded that we can tell the difference between the two rocket body options — SpaceX versus Chinese — and confirm which one will impact the moon with the data we have,” said Adam Batle, a graduate student studying planetary science.
“The differences we see are primarily due to type of paint used by SpaceX and the Chinese.”
Tracking space objects
While, the upcoming event is not an immediate safety issue for people on Earth, it has added to the concerns of astronomers who say that space debris needs better tracking.
Dr Dimitra Atri, a research scientist at the NYU Abu Dhabi's Center for Space Science, said that the upcoming collision highlights how such an event could pose a serious threat to astronauts and infrastructure in future.
“Since our civilisation is highly reliant on space technology and space economy is going to play a major role in the coming decades, having an international space traffic management strategy is absolutely necessary,” he told The National.
“We do have a good system in place to monitor earth-orbiting satellites but we need a similar capability to monitor the moon especially since agencies around the globe are planning crewed missions and even establishing a permanent human base there.
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