SpaceX crash site on moon revealed by South Korean orbiter
An out-of-control SpaceX rocket that crashed into the moon earlier this week did, in fact, leave an impact crater, according to images from a Korea AeroSpace Administration lunar orbiter that caught before-and-after photographs
Images captured by the South Korean Danuri lunar orbiter reveal the impact crater left by a SpaceX rocket crash that occurred on August 5 at around 8700 kilometres per hour. The crash site is situated near Einstein crater on the moon's edge, as observed by the KASA-operated Danuri orbiter. The crashed object was the upper stage of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, which had launched the Hakuto-R spacecraft from commercial company ispace in January 2022.
Despite numerous telescopes trained on the site, the impact remained nearly invisible to amateur observers. KASA cautioned against the circulation of fabricated videos claiming to depict the impact. NASA's predictions suggested the resulting crater would be 18 meters wide and 4 meters deep. Astronomers, including David Rothery from the Open University in the UK, noted that while this category of crater is not uncommon in the moon's landscape, higher-resolution images from NASA's lunar orbiter would offer more precise details.
The ejected regolith from the impact is expected to appear lighter in color than the surrounding surface for decades. However, the naming of the SpaceX impact site has been ruled out by astronomers, as official feature naming to celestial objects follows strict guidelines, excluding any commemoration of living individuals like SpaceX owner Elon Musk.
Written by urgent.news from New Scientist's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — it may contain errors, so check the original before relying on it.
