Key facts
- The upper stage of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is set to collide with the Moon on Wednesday.
- The rocket component is approximately the size of a five-story building and weighs at least 4,000kg.
- Nasa and astronomers will observe the impact to study lunar geology and space debris.
- The collision is expected to create a new crater and eject a significant plume of dust.
- The event serves as a cautionary example regarding the growing issue of space debris.
The upper stage of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is expected to collide with the Moon on Wednesday, according to Nasa's Centre for Near-Earth Object Studies (CNEOS). The object, which has been drifting in space, is on an accidental collision course with the lunar surface.
Astronomers, including Bill Gray who first identified the trajectory, predict the rocket stage, roughly the size of a five-story building and weighing at least 4,000kg, will land near the Einstein Crater. The impact is anticipated to create a crater more than 17 meters in diameter and eject a plume of dust up to 50 kilometers high.
Scientists view the event as a valuable, albeit accidental, experiment. By observing the dust plume and the resulting crater, researchers hope to refine models of lunar impacts and gain insights into the Moon's subsurface composition. Telescopes in the Americas, Nasa's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, and South Korea's Danuri probe are slated to monitor the collision. A citizen-science project is also enlisting amateur astronomers to film the event.
Dr. Matt Bothwell, a public astronomer at the University of Cambridge, described the impact as a "huge smashing into the Moon" that will be more impressive than similar explosions on Earth due to the Moon's lack of atmosphere. He also highlighted the event as a cautionary tale about the growing problem of space debris, noting that thousands of objects larger than 10cm are currently in orbit.
The last known rocket to impact the Moon was a Chinese Long March 3C upper stage in 2022. Decades prior, Nasa intentionally impacted objects on the Moon for Apollo mission data.