franceinfo junior. Is there a risk that the Earth will be hit by space debris?

Debris from a Falcon 9 rocket from SpaceX, Elon Musk’s company, has been drifting in space for seven years and is expected to hit the moon in early March. The pupils of the CM2 class of the Eustache Varet elementary school in Violaines in the Hauts-de-France are concerned about it. They put their questions to Fatoumata Kebe astrophysicist, specialist in space debris.

Théo, 10 years old, asks this first question, “Did Elon Musk consider this terrible crash on March 4th?” Then he would like to know, “Is Elon Musk professional in building rockets?

“Is there a way to prevent the debris from hitting the moon?”, asks Diego. Emma wonders if there is more debris in space. As for Maëly, she would like to know, “When the debris hits the moon, what will happen?” And finally a student shares her concern:

I’m worrying a lot because I’m afraid that one day space debris will hit the Earth, so I wanted to know if: is the Earth also at risk of being hit by space debris?

On this page, listen to all the children’s questions and this franceinfo junior program.