NASA announced Tuesday that its Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) has returned clear images of a newly formed crater on the Moon’s surface. The crater, about 60 feet (18 meters) wide, was created when the upper stage of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket collided with the Moon on Aug. 5.
How the impact occurred
The Falcon 9 launch on Jan. 15, 2025 carried two commercial lunar landers. After the first stage returned to Earth, the upper stage continued on a trajectory that delivered the landers toward the Moon. Once the mission was complete, SpaceX intentionally jettisoned the upper stage into lunar orbit. Over time, orbital dynamics nudged the spent booster onto a collision course with the Moon.
International effort to capture the site
Within days of the impact, the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope in Chile detected the event, and South Korea’s Danuri lunar orbiter shared early images on social media. NASA collaborated with the Korea Aerospace Administration (KASA) to use Danuri’s preliminary data to point LRO’s narrow‑angle camera at the impact site.
Engineers tilted LRO so its cameras faced the crater each time the spacecraft passed roughly 60 miles (96 km) above the Moon, traveling about one mile per second. Because LRO circles the Moon every two hours, it took six days for the orbiter’s path to align with the new crater, and additional time to process the photographs. Even a ten‑second delay in taking a picture could have moved the crater out of frame by up to ten miles.
Safety and scientific value
NASA lunar scientist Kelsey Young emphasized that the impact poses no danger to Earth or to the Moon’s existing surface. “This is a technically accepted and safe method of disposing of hardware in low lunar orbit,” Young said in a video posted to social media. The Moon is constantly struck by meteoroids, asteroids and comets, making this event a relatively routine occurrence.
Beyond confirming the impact, researchers are using the new data to study the Moon’s regolith and to inform future plans for protecting astronauts and infrastructure on the lunar surface. The fresh crater offers a natural laboratory for examining how lunar soil reacts to high‑velocity impacts, information that could prove valuable as commercial and government entities prepare for longer‑term lunar presence.
What’s next
NASA plans to continue monitoring the site with LRO and other orbiters, refining models of lunar surface behavior and improving guidelines for safe disposal of spacecraft hardware. The agency also highlighted the collaborative nature of the effort, noting the contributions of international partners such as Korea’s Danuri mission and the European Southern Observatory.
As commercial spaceflight expands, incidents like this underscore the importance of coordinated observation and transparent reporting, ensuring that the growing number of missions to the Moon are conducted responsibly and with an eye toward future exploration.
Original reporting: KTVZ (Central Oregon) — read the source article.
