NASA Photographs 18-Meter Moon Crater From Falcon 9 Impact, Pinpointing Site Within 1 km
Updated
Updated · Sky at Night Magazine · Aug 20
NASA Photographs 18-Meter Moon Crater From Falcon 9 Impact, Pinpointing Site Within 1 km
3 articles · Updated · Sky at Night Magazine · Aug 20
Summary
LRO images taken on Aug. 11-12 show the crater left by SpaceX’s Falcon 9 upper stage after its Aug. 5 impact, measuring 18 meters wide and less than 3 meters deep.
NASA said the stage hit the Moon unintentionally after planned stabilization maneuvers failed during a 2025 mission that delivered Firefly’s Blue Ghost 1 and ispace’s RESILIENCE landers.
100 km above the surface, LRO had to wait six days for the site to rotate into view; NASA said a 10-second timing error could have shifted the target by 16 km.
Bright and dark rays around the crater indicate fresh deeper material near the rim and older radiation-darkened surface dust excavated by the collision.
NASA said the search combined amateur trajectory tracking, its Near Earth Object tools and South Korea’s Danuri orbiter, which helped narrow the impact site to about 1 km.