Overview
- A Falcon 9 upper stage struck the Moon on Aug. 5, 2026 after drifting in space for more than a year, creating a new impact site near craters Einstein and Bell.
- NASA released narrow‑angle LRO images taken Aug. 11–12 that confirm an approximately 18‑meter diameter crater less than 3 meters deep and show radial dark and bright ejecta bands.
- South Korea’s Danuri mission located the site first with preliminary images and the European Southern Observatory’s VLT detected sodium and lithium in the short‑lived impact plume.
- Scientists estimate the stage hit at about 8,700 km/h, releasing energy comparable to roughly 3 tons of TNT, and LRO teams had to time and tilt the orbiter precisely to image the scar from ~96–100 km altitude.
- Researchers are using the impact to study subsurface layers, test trajectory reconstructions and press for clearer tracking and disposal practices for growing numbers of commercial and government objects near the Moon.