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The moon is about to get walloped by three tonnes of space junk, a punch that will carve out a crater that could fit several semi-trailers.

The leftover rocket will smash into the far side of the moon at 9300km/h tomorrow, away from telescopes' prying eyes.

It may take weeks, even months, to confirm the impact through satellite images.

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It's been tumbling haphazardly through space, experts believe, since China launched it nearly a decade ago.

But Chinese officials are dubious it's theirs.

No matter whose it is, scientists expect the object to carve out a hole 10 to 20 metres across and send moon dust flying hundreds of kilometres across the barren, pockmarked surface.

Low-orbiting space junk is relatively easy to track.

Objects launching deeper into space are unlikely to hit anything and these far-flung pieces are usually soon forgotten, except by a handful of observers who enjoy playing celestial detective on the side.

SpaceX originally took the rap for the upcoming lunar litter after asteroid tracker Bill Gray identified the collision course in January.

He corrected himself a month later, saying the "mystery" object was not a SpaceX Falcon rocket upper stage from the 2015 launch of a deep space climate observatory for NASA.

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Mr Gray said it was likely the third stage of a Chinese rocket that sent a test sample capsule to the moon and back in 2014.

But Chinese ministry officials said the upper stage had reentered Earth's atmosphere and burned up.

But there were two Chinese missions with similar designations — the test flight and 2020's lunar sample return mission — and US observers believe the two are getting mixed up.

The US Space Command, which tracks lower space junk, confirmed on Tuesday that the Chinese upper stage from the 2014 lunar mission never deorbited, as previously indicated in its database.

But it could not confirm the country of origin for the object about to strike the moon.

"We focus on objects closer to the Earth," a spokesperson said in a statement.

Mr Gray, a mathematician and physicist, said he's confident now that it's China's rocket.

"I've become a little bit more cautious of such matters," he said.

"But I really just don't see any way it could be anything else."

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Jonathan McDowell of the Harvard and Smithsonian Centre for Astrophysics supports Mr Gray's revised assessment, but notes: "The effect will be the same. It'll leave yet another small crater on the moon."

The moon already bears countless craters, ranging up to 2500 kilometres.

With little to no real atmosphere, the moon is defenceless against the constant barrage of meteors and asteroids, and the occasional incoming spacecraft, including a few intentionally crashed for science's sake.

With no weather, there's no erosion and so impact craters last forever.

China has a lunar lander on the moon's far side, but it will be too far away to detect Friday's impact just north of the equator.

NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter will also be out of range.

It's unlikely India's moon-orbiting Chandrayaan-2 will be passing by then, either.

"I had been hoping for something (significant) to hit the moon for a long time. Ideally, it would have hit on the near side of the moon at some point where we could actually see it," Mr Gray said.

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After initially pinning the upcoming strike on Elon Musk's SpaceX, Mr Gray took another look after an engineer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory questioned his claim.

Now, he's "pretty thoroughly persuaded" it's a Chinese rocket part, based not only on orbital tracking back to its 2014 liftoff, but also data received from its short-lived ham radio experiment.

JPL's Centre for Near Earth Object Studies endorses Mr Gray's reassessment.

A University of Arizona team also recently identified the Chinese Long March rocket segment from the light reflected off its paint, during telescope observations of the careening cylinder.

It's about 12 metres long and three metres in diameter, and doing a every two to three minutes.

Mr Gray said SpaceX never contacted him to challenge his original claim.

Neither have the Chinese.

"It's not a SpaceX problem, nor is it a China problem. Nobody is particularly careful about what they do with junk at this sort of orbit," Mr Gray said.

Tracking deep space mission leftovers like this is hard, according to Mr McDowell.

The moon's gravity can alter an object's path during flybys, creating uncertainty.

And there's no readily available database, Mr McDowell noted, aside from the ones "cobbled together" by himself, Mr Gray and a couple others.

"We are now in an era where many countries and private companies are putting stuff in deep space, so it's time to start to keep track of it," Mr McDowell said.

"Right now there's no one, just a few fans in their spare time."

From Noosa and Gympie on the Sunshine Coast down to Brisbane, Logan and the Gold Coast in Queensland to Lismore and Ballina in northern NSW, people are finally able to assess the damage after being inundated with flood waters.

A group of locals in tinnies have become a saving grace for New South Wales flood victims by delivering food and vital supplies in their boats and on jet skis to communities in Tweed Heads.

In the Tweed community of Tumbulgum, which has a population of 1200, all but 12 people have evacuated, with the remaining seeking shelter from the floodwaters.

Owner Lee sought shelter above his now destroyed cafe and gift shop with his family, trapped with no power and no phones since Monday night.

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"You've got no idea the ferocity of the water, how it was flowing," he said.

"This is our restaurant and our livelihood. We've been through this before and we will get through it again."

Dozens in tinnies and on jet skis came together on the Tweed River to help vulnerable residents cut off from food, water and medical supplies.

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Supporting their efforts was surfing legend Mick Fanning.

"It's one of those things where nature just kicked out ass pretty much," Mr Fanning said.

"Yeah it's been some very confronting scenes."

The rowing club in the devastated community of Murwillumbah serves as the drop off point for volunteers.

Several people have dropped off supplies like bottled water, food, nappies, medication, cleaning products and beer in full cars to assist their neighbours.

Loads are being shipped to those in need or transported to nearby evacuation centres.

"Everyone's lending a hand and everyone's trying to help as much as they can," Mr Fanning said.

As violence erupted and fires broke out today on Wellington’s Parliament lawns, the world’s media reacted to the dramatic conflict between protesters and NZ Police.The Sydney Morning Herald produced one of the more dramatic headlines…

The 193-member General Assembly scheduled a vote on the resolution for Thursday morning after hearing 120 speeches.

The entire coast of NSW is on alert as an east coast low unleashes heavy rain and destructive winds.

Queensland Police have released footage of a search that led to more people being charged with alleged looting of flood-affected homes.

Four people were charged with stealing by looting overnight in the Brisbane suburbs of Woolloongabba and Rocklea, which has been badly inundated by flooding.

Police said they intercepted two vehicles in Rocklea at 7.30pm on Tuesday as part of Operation Uniform Nash.

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Upon inspection, police said they found the cars and a trailer filled with dozens of wheels and tyres allegedly stolen from a nearby business impacted by floods.

A 30-year-old man was charged with stealing by looting and is due to appear in court on March 31.

Hours later, about 1am police intercepted another vehicle in Woolloongabba.

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"Police will allege the three occupants have attended several private properties, yards and carparks impacted by flooding and collected a variety of items including camping gear and copper wire," a statement read.

"While conducting a search of the vehicle, it will be alleged a small quantity of drugs, syringes and ammunition were also located."

Two 50-year-old men have been charged with stealing by looting in a natural disaster.

One of the men from Mount Gravatt was also charged for carrying explosives whilst the other man from Wishart was charged with carrying dangerous drugs.

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A 44-year-old St Lucia woman travelling with the men has been charged with stealing by looting in a natural disaster, possessing dangerous drugs and failing to dispose of syringes.

They are all expected to appear in Brisbane Magistrates Court on May 18.

Police said operations would continue to protect already vulnerable residents.

"Utilising officers on the ground, Water Police and POLAIR, Operation Uniform Nash has been assembled to defend and support flood affected communities across the south east as the vast clean up begins," a statement read.

Those caught taking property from homes or the street will be charged, and could face up to 10 years in prison.

"Operation Uniform Nash is conducting around the clock patrols to disrupt and prevent opportunistic thieves from targeting homes and businesses already victim to flooding," a statement read.