NASA finds crater created by SpaceX rocket’s Moon crash
- NASA released new images of the crater formed by a SpaceX Falcon 9 upper stage crashing into the Moon on August 5, captured by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) between August 11-12.
- The crater measured 18 meters wide and less than 3 meters deep, with images revealing different surface features such as brighter fresh material and darker dust altered by space weathering.
- Capturing the crater images was challenging due to the need for precise timing and spacecraft positioning, as even a 10-second deviation could have caused the target to drift off-center by 10 miles.
- Locating the crater was a collaborative global effort involving NASA's Center for Near Earth Object Studies, the Korean space agency, and hobbyists, with data shared between teams to refine impact site coordinates and imaging sequences.
NASA on Tuesday released new images of the crater caused by a SpaceX rocket slamming into the Moon this month.
The photographs were captured by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) between Aug. 11 and 12, and show the impact formed by a SpaceX Falcon 9 upper stage striking the Moon’s surface on Aug. 5.
Scientists from the U.S. space agency determined the crater was 18 metres wide and less than three metres feet deep, based on the length of its shadow.
The Falcon 9 launched in January 2025 carrying Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost 1 lunar lander, a private mission that made a soft landing on the Moon.
These weren’t the first images of the crash site. The Korean space agency published pictures on Aug. 6 that were taken a day earlier by Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter (KPLO), also known as Danuri.
The LRO, in service since 2009, circles the Moon from pole to pole every two hours while the Moon rotates underneath it.
A NASA statement said it was challenging to capture the image. To photograph a specific spot on the Moon, the spacecraft must wait until that location turns into view, which took six days in this case — and the spacecraft had to be tilted just right so that its camera pointed to the crater while it passed 100 kilometres overhead.
Timing was the other challenge, NASA said: “If the camera snapped even 10 seconds too early or too late, the target would drift off-center by 10 miles.”
The images they captured from different viewing angles brought out different features, including brighter and darker streaks fanning out around the crater.
NASA explained the darker streaks “are made of surface dust and rocks altered over a long time by solar wind, galactic cosmic rays, and micrometeorite impacts” that was thrown up by the collision from about half a metre below the surface.
The brighter streaks that hug the crater’s rim were fresh material excavated from deeper underground.
Finding the crater site was a global endeavour that brought together leading experts and hobbyists.
NASA said its Center for Near Earth Object Studies incrementally refined the trajectory until identifying the location of impact, which it then provided to Korea.
The Danuri team in turn sent their coordinates to NASA’s LRO team to help refine their follow-up imaging sequence.