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8h ago

NASA Images Show 60‑Foot Crater From SpaceX Rocket Impact on Moon

High-resolution LRO photos confirm the strike, offering scientists a rare test of impact models, prompting calls to tighten cislunar debris tracking and disposal rules.

The crater image is enlarged three times from the original, with north facing up, and it covers an area about a quarter of a mile wide.
This is an animated before-and-after view of the crater formed after a Falcon 9 upper stage struck the Moon’s surface on Aug. 5, 2026. These images were taken between Aug. 11 and 12 by the Narrow-Angle Camera on NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. These images are enlarged three times from the original, with north facing up, and they cover an area about a quarter of a mile wide.
image: ©Just_Super | iStock

Overview

  • A discarded SpaceX Falcon 9 upper stage struck the lunar surface on Aug. 5, 2026, creating a roughly 60-foot (18 m) wide crater that is under 10 feet deep, NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter images show.
  • South Korea’s Danuri orbiter photographed the site first on Aug. 6 and supplied coordinates that helped NASA point LRO’s narrow-angle camera for follow-up imaging on Aug. 11–12.
  • Trajectory analyses and press reporting estimate the upper stage weighed about 4–4.4 metric tons and hit the Moon at roughly 5,400 mph, releasing energy on the order of a few tons of TNT.
  • LRO photos reveal bright and dark ejecta rays that indicate shallow, weathered material was dug up from about 1.5 feet deep and fresher material came from deeper layers, data scientists will use to validate impact and ejecta models.
  • The event has renewed calls from agencies and experts to improve cislunar tracking, set clearer disposal standards for spent hardware, and build coordinated traffic‑management practices as lunar activity increases.