NASA Releases Orbiter Images of Lunar Crater Formed by SpaceX Falcon 9 Impact

Imagery captured from lunar orbit

NASA released new orbital photographs on Tuesday, 18 August 2026, documenting a fresh impact crater created by a SpaceX rocket component on the Moon. The images were collected between 11 and 12 August by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), an American robotic spacecraft that has been operating since 2009. The orbiter circles the Moon from pole to pole every two hours while the lunar body rotates slowly underneath its flight path. The photographs document the aftermath of an impact that took place on 5 August 2026, when a spent rocket body struck the surface. South Korea's space agency had earlier recorded and published preliminary imagery of the same impact area on 6 August.

Physical characteristics of the impact crater

Agency scientists determined the crater's structure by measuring the length of the shadow cast across the depression. The resulting measurements show that the crater spans 18 meters in diameter and measures less than 3 meters in depth. High-resolution photographs captured from several viewing angles reveal contrasting light and dark streaks that radiate outward across the surrounding terrain. According to NASA, the darker streaks consist of surface dust and rocks that were modified over extended periods by solar radiation and space weathering before being ejected from roughly 45 centimeters below the surface. In contrast, the brighter radial bands along the rim consist of unweathered material dredged up from deeper subterranean layers during the violent impact.

The darker rays are composed of surface dust and rocks, altered over time by solar wind, galactic cosmic rays, and micrometeorite impacts.

Mission background and rocket trajectory

The rocket stage responsible for the crater belonged to a Falcon 9 vehicle that lifted off on 15 January 2025. That launch carried the Blue Ghost 1 lunar lander developed by Firefly Aerospace, a commercial mission that went on to achieve a soft touchdown on the lunar terrain. After separating and sending the robotic lander toward its target, the spent upper stage remained on an orbital path in cislunar space. The booster stage continued travelling through space for more than eighteen months before its trajectory brought it into a direct collision with the lunar surface in August 2026.

Operational maneuvers and timing precision

Acquiring the images required delicate planning and maneuvering by ground teams managing the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. The spacecraft had to wait six days after the crash for the Moon to rotate sufficiently to bring the crash coordinates within the visual range of the optical sensors. As the orbiter swept approximately 100 kilometers above the lunar terrain, controllers tilted the craft to align its primary camera directly with the impact location. The imaging sequence required precise timing execution during the orbital pass, as even a minor deviation would have moved the crater out of frame.

If the spacecraft had taken the photograph just 10 seconds earlier or later, the target would have shifted by about 16 kilometers relative to the center of the image.