Danuri orbiter captures first images of SpaceX Falcon 9 crash on the Moon

Impact and detection

A Falcon 9 upper stage, roughly 12 metres long and 4 metres across with a mass of about 4,000 kilograms, slammed into the Moon on 5 August at approximately 08:34 Spanish peninsular time. The impact speed was reported as 8,700 km/h by SpaceX, with Chinese aerospace company ATmoto Technology giving a figure of 8,712 km/h. The impact released energy equivalent to three tons of TNT. The crash site is near the Einstein crater, on the sunlit side of the Moon, which meant the initial flash was not visible from Earth.

The upper stage was part of a Falcon 9 launched on 15 January 2025 from Cape Canaveral, carrying two private lunar landers: Firefly Aerospace's Blue Ghost, which landed successfully in March 2025, and ispace's Hakuto-R, which lost contact and crashed in June 2025. Unlike the reusable first stages, Falcon 9 second stages are abandoned in orbit. SpaceX confirmed that solar activity and gravitational forces gradually shifted the stage's trajectory toward the Moon.

Bill Gray's prediction

Independent astronomer Bill Gray had known since September 2025 that the upper stage was likely on a collision course with the Moon. Gray said the impact presents no danger to anyone, though he pointed to a certain carelessness in how leftover space hardware is disposed of. Gray expected the flash itself probably would not be seen: at 2.43 kilometres per second, the stage is far slower than a typical meteoroid, and Bill Cooke of NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office points out that the slower the impact, the less energy emerges as visible light. The ejecta plume was the better prospect for observation.

Satellite observations

South Korea's Danuri lunar orbiter, operated by the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI), began observations about 30 minutes before the impact and conducted eight photographic sessions over the site. KARI had received information months earlier that the upper stage could strike the Moon, and after confirming no risk to Danuri, planned the imaging campaign. Moon-Jin Jeon, a KARI researcher linked to Danuri operations, explained that unlike an operational satellite, rocket debris emits no signals, so its trajectory must be estimated through optical observations.

The images, released on 6 August, show noticeably darker terrain where the rocket carved out a crater, scattering dust and rock. The Andalusian Institute of Astrophysics (IAA) also shared a 14-second preliminary video showing the plume of ejected material, the only footage so far capturing an event that escaped ground-based telescopes. China's Gande-1 01 satellite, launched only last month, carried out reconnaissance over the site as well, using a high-resolution camera and an AI-based computer to estimate the time, location, and circumstances of the impact. ATmoto Technology, the Beijing-based company that developed the satellite, called the event an excellent window to test the operational capabilities of its space-based situational awareness system.

Ground-based detection

The European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope in Chile detected chemical signs indicating sodium and lithium gas in a plume of lunar dust stretching over tens of kilometres. Carl Schmidt of Boston University said emissions of lithium and sodium were carried several kilometres into space for at least five to ten minutes after impact, confirming the event even though the moment of collision itself was not visible.

What comes next

A preprint study predicted the crater would measure approximately 27 metres wide and up to 5 metres deep, too small to be seen from Earth even with a good telescope. No measurements of the new crater have been published yet.

Width27

Depth5

Width

27 metres

Depth

5 metres

Data from the article text

NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter is expected to fly over the crash site next week to observe the aftermath. Benjamin Fernando of the Los Alamos National Laboratory said one reason for the interest is to determine how great the danger from a debris impact is for future astronauts. Closer to Earth, the European Space Agency's Space Debris Office counted about 46,420 objects regularly tracked by space surveillance networks as of 31 July, working satellites included, and put the total mass of all space objects in Earth orbit at more than 17,000 tonnes.