A SpaceX rocket that launched a pair of lunar landers slammed into the moon as predicted on Wednesday after drifting off course for the past year, scientists reported. Although no one observed the actual 5,400-mph collision, a telescope in Chile spotted what astronomers have identified as the debris plume resulting from the crash, and a South Korean satellite captured the first pictures of the moon’s fresh crash scene.

Crash Details

The Korea Aerospace Research Institute’s Danuri spacecraft flew over the impact site soon after the Falcon 9 upper stage plowed into the moon on Wednesday. Danuri made multiple passes, snapping photos from lunar orbit that were released by the space agency Thursday. The terrain is noticeably darker where the rocket hit and carved out a crater, sending dust and rock everywhere.

NASA expects its Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter to fly over the crash site this week to view the aftermath. Elon Musk’s SpaceX launched Danuri from Cape Canaveral in 2022. The company also sent a pair of private lunar landers to the moon last year. The upper stage from that launch is what crashed into the moon this week at 5,400 mph, placed on an accidental collision course by solar activity and gravity, according to SpaceX.

Implications

The Falcon 9 crash is the latest instance of lunar litter, a problem that many fear could worsen as the U.S. and China race to put astronauts on the moon. In 2022, a Chinese rocket unintentionally hit the moon following a lunar mission, and many more stray rocket pieces likely struck the moon in decades past without scientists’ knowledge.

SpaceX’s Julianna Scheiman said this week that the company is working with NASA to avoid future wrecks, stressing that this projected crash was not deliberate. A combination of solar activity and gravity accidentally put it on a collision course with the moon, she said.

Original reporting: Texarkana Gazette — read the source article.