NASA Releases Images of Crater Created by SpaceX Rocket Impact on the Moon
NASA has released new images from its Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) showing the sharpest views yet of a crater carved into the Moon by a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket upper stage. The impact occurred on August 5, and the before-and-after photos, released today, reveal a fresh crater approximately 18 metres wide and less than 13 metres deep, according to scientists.
The Falcon rocket's upper stage ploughed into the lunar surface at 8,700 km/h after drifting through space for more than a year. It had been left behind after the January 2025 launch of Firefly's Blue Ghost 1 mission, as reported by Open Access Government. The return to the Moon was unplanned, according to The National.
A Challenging Photographic Target
Capturing the crater was not straightforward. LRO travels pole-to-pole roughly every two hours, passing about 60 miles above the surface at about 1 mile per second. Because the Moon rotates beneath the spacecraft, engineers had to wait six days for the crater to come into a suitable imaging position. They then tilted LRO so its cameras could point at the impact site. Timing was critical: in 10 seconds, the target could have moved roughly 10 miles from the centre of the image, according to Open Access Government.
Between August 11 and 12, LRO photographed the site from several angles and under changing lighting conditions. The spacecraft was about 96 kilometres above the surface when it captured the images a week after the collision. LRO's Narrow-Angle Camera can detect features as small as about three feet wide, allowing detailed examination of the relatively small crater.
What the Crater Reveals
The photographs show bright and dark rays extending outward from the crater, described by 1News as appearing like "butterfly wings." The darker lines represent excavated material that was close to the surface and shaped by long exposure to solar wind, cosmic rays, and micrometeorite strikes. The brighter rays indicate fresh rocks and dirt hurled from farther down. According to Open Access Government, the impact excavated weathered material from roughly 1.5 feet below the surface, while brighter material came from deeper underground.
Tracking the Impact
Locating the crater required cooperation between NASA scientists, international teams, and independent astronomers, as detailed by Open Access Government. NASA's Center for Near Earth Object Studies refined calculations to estimate the impact location. The predicted site was shared with South Korea's Danuri spacecraft (Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter), whose LUTI camera photographed the area hours later, placing the impact within 0.6 miles of the actual crater. The confirmed crater centre is at 19.4759 degrees north latitude, 266.7138 degrees east longitude, at an elevation of 511 metres.
Concerns About Space Debris
The incident has highlighted growing concerns about space debris as lunar exploration accelerates. The Moon lacks an atmosphere, meaning objects—including human-made debris—strike its surface at extremely high speeds daily, as noted by The National. Both the US and China are planning permanent lunar bases, raising concerns about the risk of debris impacts.
Dimitra Atri, a principal investigator at NYU Abu Dhabi's Centre for Astrophysics and Space Science, told The National: "This SpaceX episode perfectly highlights the risks the astronauts will face when they spend extended periods of time on permanent bases on the Moon." He added: "Both the US and China are planning permanent bases on the Moon and it is extremely important to monitor and assess potential risks. Nasa's orbiter just did that but we did not have any ability to stop such an event."
SpaceX's Falcon 9 has completed 677 missions, according to The National. While the Moon is struck by meteors daily, human-caused strikes are not very common.
The LRO has been orbiting the Moon since 2009, serving as NASA's up-close eyes as the space agency works to return astronauts to the lunar surface, as reported by 1News.