SpaceX rocket part slams into Moon, leaving new scar

A 4-ton fragment of SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket slammed into the lunar surface at an estimated 5,400 miles per hour on Wednesday, March 12, 2025, carving a fresh crater near the Einstein and Bell craters on the Moon's far side.

The rocket stage, which launched on January 15, 2025, as part of a mission to deliver a lunar lander, had been drifting in an unpredictable orbit after its primary payload was deployed. Solar radiation pressure and gravitational perturbations from Earth and the Moon altered its trajectory over the following weeks, ultimately sending it on a collision course with our celestial neighbor.

According to Dr. Kelsey Young, a lunar scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, intentionally crashing used rocket hardware into the Moon is a safe and standard disposal method. In a post on X, she explained that the impact provides a unique scientific opportunity: because researchers know the exact size, speed, and approach angle of the upper stage, they can compare the resulting crater with the countless natural impacts that have shaped the Moon's face over billions of years.

“This is like having a controlled experiment in planetary geology,” Young wrote. “We can calibrate crater formation models using real data from a known impactor.”

The event was not visible to the naked eye from Earth, but observatories and lunar orbiters are expected to image the new scar in the coming weeks. The crater is located in a region of the Moon that has been heavily pockmarked by ancient impacts, making it difficult to spot using ground-based telescopes. However, NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) and other spacecraft in orbit around the Moon will likely capture high-resolution images that could reveal the exact dimensions and shape of the fresh crater.

Why this matters for space debris

The collision highlights a growing concern about the accumulation of human-made debris around the Moon. While the Moon has no atmosphere to burn up leftover rocket stages, crashing them into the surface is considered the safest option—provided they are aimed carefully. Unlike Earth, where defunct satellites often burn up in the atmosphere, lunar orbit debris can persist for decades and pose a risk to future missions.

“This is not the first time a rocket stage has hit the Moon, and it won't be the last,” said Dr. Sarah Thompson, a planetary scientist at the University of Arizona who was not involved in the mission. “But each event gives us a chance to improve our understanding of impact physics and the Moon's surface properties.”

A brief history of Moon crashes

The Falcon 9 upper stage is far from the first human-made object to strike the Moon. In 2009, NASA's LCROSS mission deliberately crashed a spent Centaur rocket stage into the Moon's south pole, kicking up water ice that confirmed the presence of lunar water. Three years later, NASA's twin GRAIL spacecraft ended their mission by slamming into a mountain near the Moon's north pole. More recently, the Chinese Chang'e-5 mission's rocket booster struck the Moon in 2022, creating a double crater—a mystery that scientists still debate.

The SpaceX impact, however, stands out because of the precise tracking data available. The rocket stage was tracked by both US Space Force and amateur astronomers, giving researchers a rare opportunity to correlate pre-impact observations with post-impact crater measurements.

What's next

Scientists are now waiting for LRO and other lunar assets