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2w ago

NASA Reveals 60‑Foot Moon Crater From SpaceX Falcon 9 Impact

LRO's before-and-after photos confirm an 18‑meter crater that gives scientists a rare real dataset to validate lunar impact models.

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.
Collected between Aug. 11 and 12 by NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, six days after a Falcon 9 upper-stage booster impacted the Moon, these images were taken from different viewing angles, bringing out different features. The darker area that fans around the crater in the upper-left image is rougher than the surroundings, as this surface material has been altered over a long time by solar wind, galactic cosmic rays, and micrometeorite impacts. The brighter rays and splotch above the crater in the lower-right image is fresher material that was excavated from deeper below the surface. The pictures are arranged in the order they were taken, starting at the top left and moving toward the bottom right, with the lighting angle from the Sun gradually changing from one image to the next. Each image is enlarged two times and shows an area of the Moon about 1,000 feet wide. NASA Goddard/Intuitive Machines

Overview

  • A spent SpaceX Falcon 9 upper stage struck the Moon on Aug. 5, 2026 after drifting in a high Earth–Moon crossing orbit for more than a year, hitting at an estimated speed of about 5,400 mph.
  • NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter captured targeted before-and-after images on Aug. 11–12 that show a roughly 60‑foot (18 m) wide crater less than 10 feet deep and bright and dark ejecta rays.
  • The pattern of dark streaks and brighter rays shows shallow, weathered surface material was excavated from about 1.5 feet deep while fresher, unworn material came from deeper layers.
  • Locating and imaging the site required global cooperation: independent trackers predicted the impact, South Korea's Danuri provided early photos, and NASA CNEOS refined coordinates used by LRO.
  • Scientists say the data will test impact and ejecta models and that the unintentional strike highlights gaps in cislunar tracking and disposal rules that policymakers and operators must address as lunar activity grows.