NASA has released images of a fresh crater on the Moon formed when a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket stage crashed on August 5.
The American space agency obtained the detailed photographs using its Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, which tracked down the impact location following data provided by international partner agencies. CNN first reported the release of the images on Tuesday.
The object that struck the lunar surface was the upper stage of a Falcon 9 launch vehicle sent into space on January 15, 2025. The mission successfully deployed two commercial lunar landers onto a trajectory toward the Moon.
During the initial launch phase, the rocket booster returned safely to Earth for future reuse. The upper stage continued onward to deliver its commercial payload into lunar transfer orbit before completing its operational assignment.
SpaceX, formally known as Space Exploration Technologies Corp., is an American commercial aerospace manufacturer based in Hawthorne, California. Its Falcon 9 vehicle is a reusable two-stage rocket designed for transporting satellites and crewed spacecraft into orbit.
Tracking the orbital collision
After completing its primary mission, SpaceX deliberately left the spent upper stage in space. Over the following months, gravitational forces and complex orbital dynamics gradually shifted the hardware onto a trajectory that led to an impact with the Moon on August 5.
Following the impact, space agencies and astronomical researchers across the globe began searching for the crash site to capture images of the newly formed crater. A ground-based telescope operated by the European Southern Observatory in the Atacama Desert in Chile was among the first instruments to detect the impact zone.
The European Southern Observatory is an intergovernmental astronomy organization supported by 16 member nations. It operates high-altitude observatories in northern Chile, where clear atmospheric conditions provide ideal visibility for deep space optical observations.
South Korea's lunar orbiter, Danuri, subsequently captured and published its own before-and-after images of the collision area. NASA then collaborated with the Korea Aerospace Administration, using initial tracking coordinates from Danuri to target its own spacecraft directly at the site.
Danuri, officially known as the Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter, launched in August 2022 as South Korea's first mission to the Moon. The Korea Aerospace Administration functions as the national executive agency overseeing space research and technology development for South Korea.
Precision targeting in lunar orbit
To capture high-resolution imagery of the crater, engineers instructed the space probe to tilt its body as it passed over the target area. NASA stated that technicians maneuvered the spacecraft so its Narrow Angle Camera pointed directly at the crater during each flyby, which occurred at an altitude of approximately 100 kilometers while traveling at 1.6 kilometers per second.
The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter is a robotic NASA spacecraft launched in June 2009 to map the Moon's surface and evaluate potential landing sites. Managed by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, the orbiter carries specialized cameras and scientific sensors.
The spacecraft completes a polar orbit around the Moon roughly once every two hours. Despite those frequent passes, researchers were required to wait six days for the probe's orbital path to align precisely over the crash site, after which the retrieved raw data required additional processing.
Timing accuracy during the imaging run was critical to capturing the impact feature. NASA noted that a timing delay of just 10 seconds would have shifted the crater roughly 16 kilometers out of the camera's frame, missing the target entirely.
The processed imagery ultimately confirmed that the rocket fragment created a fresh crater measuring approximately 18 meters in diameter.
Scientific value of hardware disposal
Although the collision of the rocket fragment on the Moon was not originally planned, NASA researchers emphasized that the event poses no danger to the lunar surface or to Earth. NASA lunar research expert Kelsey Young said that the impact was not a source of concern for scientists.
Young explained that allowing spent hardware to impact the Moon is a technically acceptable and safe method for disposing of equipment operating in low lunar orbit.
Researchers plan to utilize the collision site to advance scientific study of the lunar environment. Young stated that observing artificial impacts helps scientists better understand the structure of the lunar surface while assisting engineers in developing protective measures for future astronauts and space exploration infrastructure.
Young added that the Moon is subject to constant natural bombardment from meteors, asteroids, and comets, making artificial crashes a valuable opportunity to monitor impact physics under known conditions.
